Rapists could face life sentences and barristers prevented from ‘putting victims on trial’ under Victorian Labor reforms

Premier Ben Carroll says if re-elected Labor will legislate a new form of manslaughter and increase maximum penalty for rape to life imprisonment

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Rapists could face life sentences and lawyers would be prevented from asking humiliating questions of victim-survivors under a suite of Victorian Labor pre-election commitments designed to reduce violence against women.

The premier, Ben Carroll, on Sunday announced an election commitment to legislate a new form of manslaughter covering cases in which a person takes their own life as a result of family violence, as well as a new offence covering perpetrators abandoning a victim in need of medical care.