Fraud and Consent in Australian Rape Law

This article examines the circumstances in which fraud will vitiate consent to sex for the purposes of Australian rape law. It begins by summarising the Australian common law position on fraud in rape law, before discussing the relevant legislative provisions and recent case law in the various Australian jurisdictions. It is argued that the common features of legal approaches to this issue in the Australian States and Territories raise potentially serious problems of vagueness and overbreadth. Three possible responses are then examined. The article concludes that the most promising immediate response lies in a purposive judicial attitude to interpreting and applying the statutory framework, rather than further legislative reform or systematic reading down of the relevant provisions.