Email the Premier and the Attorney-General - Enable victim-survivors to pre-record their testimony in Victoria

Right now is a critical moment in our campaign to support sexual assault survivors to give testimony on their own terms. We are calling for victim-survivors to have the option to pre-record their evidence - allowing them to share their experiences outside the often intimidating and retraumatising courtroom environment.

Meaningful change happens when decision-makers see how many of us care about an issue. By contacting the Premier and Attorney-General, you’ll help show them the level of community support for reform. It’s a chance to ensure that decision makers understand the importance of supporting victim-survivors' wellbeing when seeking justice through the court system.

Right now is a critical moment in our campaign to support sexual assault survivors to give testimony on their own terms. We are calling for victim-survivors to have the option to pre-record their evidence - allowing them to share their experiences outside the often intimidating and retraumatising courtroom environment.

Meaningful change happens when decision-makers see how many of us care about an issue. By contacting the Premier and Attorney-General, you’ll help show them the level of community support for reform. It’s a chance to ensure that decision makers understand the importance of supporting victim-survivors' wellbeing when seeking justice through the court system.

Email the Premier and Attorney-General in Victoria

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Reporting sexual assault and seeking justice should never cause further harm. Yet in Victoria, current court processes are doing just that - inflicting unnecessary distress on victim-survivors.

Victim-survivors deserve a trauma-informed legal system, including the option to pre-record their evidence. Giving evidence requires recounting deeply traumatic experiences in graphic detail and facing intense questioning, which can be re-traumatising. The long wait to give evidence often makes this worse, creating prolonged anxiety and disrupting recovery.

Many victim-survivors face years of delay between reporting to police and a trial. During this time, including adjournments, they must remain ready to relive their assault in detail at any moment.

These delays and rigid processes place an unfair burden on those the system is meant to support, often deepening trauma rather than enabling healing.

Reform is urgently needed to reduce harm and ensure victim-survivors are treated with dignity, compassion, and care.

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Dear Premier Allan and Attorney-General Kilkenny

I am writing to show support for Fair Agenda’s open letter calling for the Victorian Government to implement a long overdue reform for victim-survivors in criminal trials to be able to pre-record their testimony. The open letter can be found here: https://www.fairagenda.org/pre_record_open_letter

This reform was recommended in 2021 by the Victorian Law Reform Commission and again in 2025 by the Australian Law Reform Commission.

Right now, many survivors have to wait over a year to give evidence at trial. This long wait causes huge anxiety and distress. When the trial finally happens, they have to describe deeply traumatic events in front of a jury, often with the person accused sitting right there.

Fair Agenda’s model for pre-recorded testimony would let survivors record their evidence earlier, in a safer, more supportive setting. Research shows this can ease trauma, help survivors feel more prepared, and make their evidence clearer and stronger.

I am calling on the government to:

Give survivors the choice: Change the law so victim-survivors can choose how they give their evidence - whether that’s pre-recorded or another way - instead of leaving it up to the judge.

Make the process more flexible: Make sure it doesn’t matter if the same judge or lawyers are present at every hearing. This will help avoid delays and stop survivors from having to testify again in court.

Let courts choose where and how evidence is recorded: Allow courts to hold pre-recording hearings in more flexible, informal settings - including by video link - so survivors don’t have to travel long distances, or be cut off from support.

Empower courts to order the editing of pre-recorded evidence: Include a provision for courts to edit recorded evidence for admissibility and relevance.

What needs funding to make this work:

Better facilities and tech: Invest in good-quality recording equipment, safe storage for evidence, remote witness rooms, and accessible spaces for everyone.

Training for court staff: Fund proper training for judges and lawyers on using pre-recorded evidence and working with survivors, including cultural training and more female legal personnel so that more Aboriginal women will have access to female prosecutors, legal representation and court staff.

More support for survivors: Make sure survivors know their options and have access to legal advice, intermediaries, and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors to guide them through the process.

Qualified interpreters: Provide trained interpreters for every step of the legal process - with support to manage the impacts on them of hearing traumatic evidence.

These changes are vital to creating a legal system that truly supports and respects the well-being of victim-survivors.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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