<title>Australian Parliament a hotbed of sex

A sex industry spokesman says people are having sex every day in the Australian parliament building. Story filed:Thursday 14th March 2002

Eros Foundation co-ordinator Robbie Swan says couples regularly have sex in the building's meditation room.

His comments come after reports of a former Labour spin doctor having sex in the Northern Territory parliament.

He says the meditation room is still being used for sex "almost on a daily basis".

"This has been going on in parliaments all over the country for many years," the Canberra-based spokesman told The Australian newspaper.

"The meditation room up in the federal parliament house above the Senate has been used for all sorts of people to have sex since parliament house opened here in 1988."

"There's 7,000 people working in parliament house here when it gets going. Some of them will have sex on the job - it's just part of what you do," Mr Swan added.

On the scandal in the Northern Territory, he commented: "It was a lot less offensive for most people than some of the parliamentary debates that take place where people call each other names and are abusive."

October 25, 2007
Major changes to rape laws go to South Australia’s Parliament

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson says that, after further consultation, the Government has decided to also define as rape a situation in which a woman withdraws her consent after initially agreeing to sexual intercourse and the other party continues regardless.

Mr Atkinson says the reforms will require a person’s agreement to sexual activity to be free and voluntary. Sexual activity will be non-consensual if agreement to it was obtained:

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by force or threats of force to the alleged victim or anyone else;
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by threats to degrade or disgrace the alleged victim or anyone else;
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while the alleged victim was asleep or unconscious;
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while the alleged victim was too intoxicated to be capable of agreeing;
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when the alleged victim was affected by a physical or mental disability that made him or her incapable of agreeing;
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when the alleged victim was mistaken about or unable to understand the nature of the sexual activity;
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when the alleged victim was mistaken about the identity of the person she was having sex with; and
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while the alleged victim is unlawfully detained.

The new laws require a judge to direct the jury, in relevant cases, that consent to sexual activity should not be assumed merely because the alleged victim:

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didn’t say or do anything to indicate she did not consent;
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did not protest or physically resist;
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was not physically injured by the activity; and
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had had consensual sex with the accused person or anyone else before.

The reforms will also make it an offence to make another person, against his or her will, have sex with a person or animal. Compelled sexual intercourse or bestiality will be rape, with a penalty of life imprisonment. Any other kind of compelled sexual activity will be an offence of compelled sexual manipulation, carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment if aggravated.

The law will also be changed on:

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Offences of unlawful sexual intercourse;
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Offences of persistent sexual abuse;
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Incest laws; and
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Offences with animals.

“I hope they’ll assist women who are victims of such callous crimes and will also offer further support and protection when giving evidence before a court, which can be a terrifying and harrowing experience,” Minister for the Status of Women Jennifer Rankine.