The ACT Assembly has at last come into line with other states and territories by making “”stalking” a criminal offence. Until now the police could do very little to help people, almost invariably women, who were victims of stalking. Stalkers would say they were not breaking any law; they were committing no physical violence or no trespass to property; they were just using the public streets or walking up to front doors or workplaces like any other door-to-door canvasser. That defence never had any efficacy in the context of ordinary human relations. Now, at last, it has no legal efficacy.
Stalking causes terrible fear in the victim and in our society people should not have to live in fear. They should be able to call upon help from the police, the courts and the law. The definitions of stalking are fairly straightforward. A key element to it is repetition of contact. One incidental contact may arouse slight alarm, but it is the second and subsequent unwelcome contacts that arouse fear. Following, approaches, loitering, repeated visits to home or work, repeated telephoning or mailing all constitute loitering. And all are capable of arousing fear.
These actions are as deserving of protection by the criminal law as physical assaults. The important point about the new law is that it will act as a deterrent and give the police the wherewithal to intervene. It is the mark of a civilised society that it protects its members from fear inflicted by other members of society.
This law has come none too soon.