Harrison James

And, you know, the campaign and us as survivors, we have held up a mirror to the country and asked...

When we are confronted with horrific violence, why is it that we reach for language that wants to soften it?

You know, why are we calling child sex offenders champions of young people?

Why are rapists being described as top blokes?

You know, and we see it in the media as well, and it's usually framed as a fall from grace.

And that language matters and we shouldn't be tolerating that.

And character references were not this harmless practice.

They were actively re-traumatising survivors in courtrooms across the country.

That's why New South Wales matters and that's why it sets a precedent for the rest of the country to follow suit.

Well, the thing that is so poignant with the way that child sex offending and rape, for example, the thing that these perpetrators implement is tactics of grooming, and they manipulate not just the victim but the entire community around them into thinking that they are this good person.

So there are people who are, you know, friends, family, colleagues, you know, just everyday people who are writing these references.

And child sex offenders specifically, because I've lived through that pain and that trauma, they are experts at cultivating this perception that they are good and wholehearted and, you know, they give communities permission to minimise abuse and doubt survivors with their tactics.

And that is why good character references specifically are

they should never be utilised as a mitigating factor.

They're, in fact, further evidence as to why these perpetrators got away with the abuse and got away with facilitating the crime.

What passed is what the Your Reference Ain't Relevant campaign initially set out to achieve, and we've won that and we passed that.

So that's why I characterise it as a win, because for us it is, and for other victim survivors of sexual violence it is.

But I also think it's deeply disappointing that the Greens and the Coalition chose to water down the bill that showcased the broader reform that the government wanted to achieve instead of standing united with survivors.

And I think, Chris, I need to provide just a little bit of context as to how we got to that point, because...

The Attorney General, Michael Daly, when we went to him in 2023 asking for good character references to be abolished specifically for child sex offenders and acts of sexual violence, he took it to the Sentencing Council of New South Wales, which did a two-year review.