I agree. The evidence of Jonathan Rudin of Aboriginal Legal Services, as was said, was counterintuitive. I would never have thought I'd be in favour of his perspective, the idea of removing the reverse onus, but he said the following, and I just want to read it into the record:
One of the impacts of dual charging is that women end up with convictions for assault that they should never have had. If these provisions go through and their partner once again alleges abuse then they may have trouble meeting the reverse onus. This means that they will be detained, they will likely plead guilty and the cycle will continue and continue. Over 40% of women in custody today are Indigenous—this provision of the bill will make a shameful situation even worse.
That's Jonathan Rudin, who deals with this issue day in and day out. I found his testimony overwhelmingly powerful. I hope the members of this committee will see fit to reverse this injustice.