A new idea regarding the use of an app to track sexual consent in Australia has drawn criticism and backlash after the concept was announced on Thursday.
Mick Fuller, a police commissioner in New South Wales, proposed the idea, saying that the app could be utilized in order to establish “positive consent,” according to BBC.
Many people have since spoken out against the idea as something that could be used by abusers and argue that is not a long-term solution to the problem of sexual assault.
In an opinion piece in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph on Thursday, Fuller presented the idea. “Just as we’ve had to check-in at the coffee shop to keep people safe, is there a way consent can be confirmed or documented?” he wrote. “You can’t walk into a shop at the moment without scanning in. Two years ago I would have said ‘You’re mad, I’m not doing that.’ Do we protect people dating by having a positive affirmation … in an app?”
According to reporting by The Guardian, Fuller defended the idea to the media on Thursday morning but then admitted that it might have flaws.
“The app could be a terrible idea, but maybe in 10 years’ time that will be seen as the normal dating [method]. If you swipe left and right and there’s another option if you want to have intimacy,” he said on Sydney radio station 2GB. “I hope we don’t need to get to that point. I hope that we start the conversation at home and we start the conversation in schools about respectful behavior.”
In an interview on ABC radio, the police commissioner admitted the app could be “the worst idea I have all year”, while also saying “intimate violence, particularly against women, is a real problem crime for us at the moment and we need to find a solution”.
At a press conference later in the day, he discussed the app and what conversations the idea has started. He also stated that it could be incorporated as a way to keep the issue of consent out of the courts since the justice system has been “overwhelmed” by the problem and has a difficult time with such cases.
“People have mixed emotions about how the app would work. For mine the app keeps people out of the justice system, it’s not about how it works in the justice system,” Fuller said at the news conference. “We already know the journey in the justice system is such a difficult one for victims.”
“This is one of those issues we need to face and we have to have the conversation about consent, we need our kids to have a better understanding and we need our juries to have a better understanding,” he said.
“When people are dating online, and it is just dinner, then just be clear it’s just dinner, and it’s not victim-blaming, and being intoxicated is OK, but perhaps you need to protect your friends a bit better when they are intoxicated and not let them go home with someone,” he said at one point.
“There is a range of things I’d love to come out of this, and the app is not necessarily one of them, but starting the conversation is, and the app has at least brought this issue up and people are talking about it.”
Earlier this week, tens of thousands of people across Australia marched in order to protest the harassment and sexual abuse of Australian women. The protests were sparked by reports of alleged rape by some members of the Australian government.
The Guardian reports, “Figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research on Wednesday showed reported sexual assaults rose by 10% in 2020, with about 15,000 women coming forward. But only 2% of those led to guilty verdicts in court.”
The shadow minister for women and education, Tanya Plibersek, reportedly praised Fuller for bringing up the topic but warned that “consent can be withdrawn at any time”.
“So the fact that you’ve signed up, in the beginning, doesn’t mean that you’re up for everything that your partner suggests,” she said. “You can withdraw consent. We really need to be teaching consent to our kids, as part of a respectful relationship program that’s age-appropriate, in our schools, in our homes.”