MELBOURNE, Australia — A Sydney rape case that dragged out for almost five years — through two trials, a conviction, two appeals and the suspect’s eventual acquittal — has set off a flurry of debate in Australia on what constitutes sexual consent.
The issue was reignited by a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship news program, 4 Corners, highlighting the case of Saxon Mullins, who was 18 when she said she was raped in a nightclub alleyway.
On Tuesday, the morning after the television report ran, the attorney general of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, announced a review of the state’s sexual consent laws.
Mark Speakman, the attorney general, said that the state had a “systemic problem with sexual assault reporting and convictions” and that the conviction rate in such cases was around 55 percent.
The contentious issue of what constitutes sexual consent, and whether or not the law properly reflects contemporary sexual encounters, was at the core of the winding case involving Ms. Mullins, who went public for the first time in the dramatic TV report.
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