In the shadow of two women's preventable deaths, Victoria's government has proposed a reckoning with the limits of its own legal architecture — raising the ceiling on rape sentences to life imprisonment, shielding victims from courtroom re-traumatisation, and creating new offences for those who abandon the vulnerable to die alone. The reforms, announced by Premier Ben Carroll ahead of a November election, reflect a growing recognition that justice systems can themselves become instruments of harm when they treat survivors as suspects and perpetrators as beneficiaries of procedural silence.
Victoria to impose life sentences for rape, restrict victim cross-examination
Two women died from family violence-related circumstances: Belinda Jones (40) from untreated infections after partner abandonment, and Narelle Simmons (42) from assault injuries after partner left her unattended.
Abandoning a victim is an act of family violence itself
Mark
So the premier is saying life sentences for rape—that's a significant jump from 25 years. What's driving that now?
Mimi
The government frames it as closing a gap. They're saying the current maximum doesn't reflect the severity, and they want to send a message that sexual violence is treated as seriously as murder.
Luke
But we should be careful here. A maximum penalty and what actually gets handed down are different things. How often do judges currently impose 25-year sentences for rape? That context matters.
Mark
Fair point. What about the cross-examination restrictions? That sounds like it could be contentious.
Mimi
The government's argument is that victims are being re-traumatized in court by aggressive questioning from defence barristers. They want to prevent what they call humiliating and invasive techniques.
Luke
Again, the devil's in the detail. What counts as humiliating? Who decides? Defence lawyers will say they need to test evidence rigorously. This could end up in constitutional challenges.
Mark
The new offence for abandonment—that came from the coroner's findings about those two women?
Mimi
Yes. Belinda Jones and Narelle Simmons both died after partners left them without calling for help. The coroner said that abandonment itself is an act of family violence. Right now there's no specific crime for it.
Luke
But here's the thing—in Simmons's case, the partner was convicted of common assault and failing to report a death. In Jones's case, no charges at all. So the question is: would a new abandonment offence have changed those outcomes? We don't know.
Mark
Does the source say anything about when these reforms might pass?
Mimi
Only that they're election commitments. If Labor wins in November, they'd legislate them.
Luke
And if they don't win? The Coalition hasn't committed to these specific reforms, as far as the reporting shows.
The Pulse
- Two Victorian women — Belinda Jones and Narelle Simmons — died from family violence-related circumstances while their partners faced little to no meaningful legal consequence, exposing critical gaps in existing law.
- The state coroner's findings named abandonment itself as an act of family violence, creating pressure on legislators to close loopholes that allowed perpetrators to walk away — sometimes literally — from dying victims.
- Premier Carroll's pre-election platform proposes raising the maximum rape penalty from 25 years to life, increasing all serious sexual offence penalties by five years, and doubling the cap on intervention order breach sentences.
- Courtroom culture is also in the crosshairs: proposed reforms would ban humiliating cross-examination tactics and allow judges to weigh patterns of abuse as evidence rather than judging each incident in isolation.
- The reforms land in a competitive election environment where both Labor and the Coalition are staking out tough-on-crime positions, raising questions about whether urgency is driven by justice or by the ballot box.
In the shadow of two women's preventable deaths, Victoria's government has proposed a reckoning with the limits of its own legal architecture — raising the ceiling on rape sentences to life imprisonment, shielding victims from courtroom re-traumatisation, and creating new offences for those who abandon the vulnerable to die alone. The reforms, announced by Premier Ben Carroll ahead of a November election, reflect a growing recognition that justice systems can themselves become instruments of harm when they treat survivors as suspects and perpetrators as beneficiaries of procedural silence.
Victoria's Premier Ben Carroll announced sweeping criminal law reforms on Sunday, promising life sentences for rape and a suite of new protections for victim-survivors of sexual and family violence — if Labor wins re-election in November. Currently capped at 25 years, the maximum penalty for rape would be removed entirely, while all other serious sexual offences would see their maximums rise by five years. The government also plans to double the penalty for persistent breaches of family violence intervention orders and set a standard 30-year sentence for intimate partner murder.
Beyond sentencing, the reforms take aim at courtroom procedure. Barristers would be barred from using humiliating or invasive questioning techniques against victim-survivors, and courts would be empowered to consider patterns of abuse as trial evidence rather than evaluating each incident in isolation. Carroll was blunt in his framing: 'I'm sick of Victoria's courts and defence barristers putting victims on trial.'
Two deaths gave the reforms their sharpest moral weight. Belinda Jones, 40, died in July 2023 on the floor of her Maryborough home after her partner left her overnight and delayed calling an ambulance by two hours. She had treatable bacterial infections and sepsis; her partner faced no charges related to her death. Narelle Simmons, 42, died in October 2021 after her partner assaulted her and left their Cranbourne home. Her body was found nine days later. Her partner — who had 18 prior family violence victims on record — received five months in prison.
State coroner Liberty Sanger's findings in both cases concluded that abandonment of a family violence victim requiring medical care is itself an act of violence. The government's proposed response is a new criminal offence for exactly that conduct, alongside a new form of manslaughter for cases where a victim takes their own life as a result of family violence.
The announcement forms part of a broader election-season crime platform that also includes a new police training facility and 'Jack's Law,' authorising officers to use handheld metal detectors to search for knives. The Coalition has matched some of these commitments while proposing expanded adult sentencing for youth offenders and increased police numbers. Carroll cited a statistic that a Victorian woman dies from violence every two weeks — a figure that lends the political contest a human urgency neither side appears willing to cede.
Victoria's premier Ben Carroll announced a sweeping set of criminal law reforms on Sunday aimed at toughening penalties for sexual violence and closing what the government describes as gaps in family violence prosecution. If Labor wins re-election, rapists would face life sentences instead of the current maximum of 25 years, and the maximum penalties for all other serious sexual offences would rise by five years. The state would also legislate new offences designed to catch perpetrators who currently escape justice through legal loopholes—specifically, a new form of manslaughter for cases where someone takes their own life as a result of family violence, and a criminal offence for abandoning a victim in need of medical care.
The reforms also target courtroom procedure. Under the proposed changes, barristers would be prohibited from using what the government calls "humiliating and invasive questioning techniques" when cross-examining victim-survivors. Courts would be empowered to consider patterns of sexual abuse as evidence at trial, rather than treating each incident in isolation. Carroll, speaking to reporters, framed the push as a direct response to what he sees as a system that places victims themselves on trial. "I'm sick of Victoria's courts and defence barristers putting victims on trial," he said. The government also plans to double the maximum penalty for persistent breaches of family violence intervention orders from five years to ten, and to set the standard sentence for murdering a current or former partner at 30 years, up from 25.
The new abandonment offence responds directly to recommendations made by state coroner Liberty Sanger following two deaths that exposed gaps in existing law. Belinda Jones, 40, died in July 2023 on the floor of her Maryborough home after her partner left her there overnight and then delayed calling an ambulance for two hours after discovering her unresponsive. She had contracted treatable bacterial infections and sepsis; a hospital had failed to diagnose the condition during an emergency visit days before her death. Her partner faced no charges related to her death. In her findings, Sanger wrote that abandoning a victim of family violence who requires medical attention constitutes an act of family violence itself, one that instils fear and reinforces the perpetrator's control.
Narelle Simmons, 42, died in October 2021 after her partner punched her twice in the face and elbowed her in the back of the head before leaving their Cranbourne home. Her body was discovered nine days later when her daughter requested a welfare check. The coroner could not determine whether Simmons died immediately after the assault or hours or days later. Her partner, who had 18 previous family violence victims on record, pleaded guilty to common assault and failing to report a reportable death. He received five months in prison and a 12-month community corrections order.
Carroll's announcement is part of a broader election campaign focused on crime. Earlier in the week, Labor committed to building a new police training facility in Melbourne's western suburbs and introducing Jack's Law, which would authorize police and protective services officers to stop and search people for knives using handheld metal detectors. "I'm a tough-on-crime premier—and that means being tough on family and sexual violence," Carroll said in a statement. He cited a statistic that a Victorian woman dies every two weeks as a result of violence. The Coalition has also committed to Jack's Law and has outlined plans to expand adult sentencing for youth offenders, increase police numbers, and restructure the court of appeal if elected in November.
Notable Quotes
I'm sick of Victoria's courts and defence barristers putting victims on trial— Premier Ben Carroll
The act of abandoning a victim of family violence requiring medical attention is an act of family violence, that instils fear in the victim and affirms a perpetrator's control over the victim— State Coroner Liberty Sanger
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Politics & Governance