South Australia will remove its so-called “gay panic” murder defence, becoming the last Australian jurisdiction to do so. The partial legal defence allows a heterosexual man accused of murder to attempt to reduce a charge down to manslaughter if they plead guilty but claim they lost control and the violence was “provoked” by a non-violent homosexual advance.

The University of Adelaide’s SA Law Reform Institute (SALRI) released a report for the South Australian Liberal government that recommends the “offensive and discriminatory” defence be scrapped.

South Australian Attorney-General Vickie Chapman (pictured) said the “gay panic” defence is “simply no longer acceptable” and committed to drafting a law to remove it.

SALRI deputy director David Plater said the existing provocation defence “allows unfair blaming of the deceased victim and, as a basic issue, we believe that our laws in the 21st century should make it unacceptable for anyone to lose self-control and kill someone.”

The Institute was tasked with investigating whether repealing the broader defence of provocation – of which the gay panic defence is one part – may have an adverse effect in unrelated cases.

The report recommended that the defence of provocation be abolished, that greater flexibility in sentencing be introduced, and that statutory defences of duress and necessity be introduced to provide greater recognition of the situation of victims of family violence.

Mr Plater said “apart from the gay panic aspect, our consultation and research have left us in no doubt that the current [provocation] law favours men over women and is especially unfair to women who have been subjected to family violence.” Read more via QNews