Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Justice Responses to Sexual Violence

Our submission focuses on questions in the ALRC’s Issues Paper that relate directly to our areas of practice and where we can provide insight based on our clients’ and practitioners’ experience of the justice system.

Women’s Legal considers improved access to legal assistance to be an overarching and urgent priority for system reform and government investment. It is critical that justice system responses to sexual violence acknowledge and appropriately consider the prevalence of sexual violence that is perpetrated in intimate partner contexts. Legal assistance and holistic, wrap-around support is required to assist victim-survivors of sexual violence to navigate the justice system and to assist with intersecting legal issues (such as family violence, family law, migration, criminal and civil justice responses like restorative justice and victim’s compensation) from the time a victim-survivor is considering whether to report through to the resolution of their legal matters.

There is significant scope for reforming justice system responses to sexual violence to ensure they are trauma-informed and victim-centric. In our experience, many of our clients experience significant secondary trauma through their interactions with the justice system and this is unacceptable.