Help us make pre-recorded testimony a reality for survivors - Email the Attorney-General!

Too many sexual assault survivors are being forced to relive their trauma in courtrooms that are intimidating and retraumatising. The Standing Council of Attorneys-General is meeting soon — and we have an opportunity to push for national reform that gives survivors the right to choose pre-recorded testimony. With your help, we can make sure this critical reform becomes a reality.

The meeting is to discuss the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report Safe, Informed and Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence. The report recommends complainants having the option to pre-recorded testimony including the importance of a victim-survivor ...

Too many sexual assault survivors are being forced to relive their trauma in courtrooms that are intimidating and retraumatising. The Standing Council of Attorneys-General is meeting soon — and we have an opportunity to push for national reform that gives survivors the right to choose pre-recorded testimony. With your help, we can make sure this critical reform becomes a reality.

The meeting is to discuss the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report Safe, Informed and Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence. The report recommends complainants having the option to pre-recorded testimony including the importance of a victim-survivor’s right to choose how they give evidence.

Currently pre-recording evidence for adults is only the law in Queensland and Northern Territory. We need Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania to catch up! But we must make sure they do it correctly. It should always be a victim-survivors right to choose how they give evidence. This should not be left up to the court to decide.

In order to get states and territories across Australia to adopt the Australian Law Reform Commission’s recommendation for pre-recorded testimony, and a victim-survivor’s right to choose, we need your help.

Write to the Attorney General and urge them to champion Fair Agenda’s model for pre-recorded testimony that is evidence based and survivor informed.

+

Help us make pre-record a reality for survivors - Email the Attorney-General!

852 emails sent

Help us advocate to the Attorney-General of Australia to influence states and territories to do the right thing and implement pre-recorded testimony for sexual assault survivors

Where do you live?

Compose your email

Name

Email

Subject:

Dear Attorney-General,

Ahead of your next meeting with the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, I urge you to champion the right for sexual assault complainants to pre-record their testimony.

Too many victim-survivors are retraumatised by our court system - forced to wait years for trial, to relive abuse multiple times, and to endure intimidating cross-examinations in open court. Pre-recorded testimony is a practical, evidence-based way to reduce this harm. It allows victim-survivors to give their evidence once, earlier in the process, closer to when the offence occurred - improving the quality and reliability of their testimony, and easing the crushing weight of prolonged legal delays.

Critical to pre-recorded testimony is a victim-survivors right to choose. This decision to pre-record testimony should not be left to a judge to decide, it should be the decision of the complainant. This right should be enshrined in the Victims’ Charters in each respective state and territory.

In addition testimony should be edited for admissibility and relevance - like what is currently happening now in the Northern Territory and Queensland for all sexual assault complainants. Where content is disallowed by the judge, it should be edited out of testimony. So if a complainant is asked a question (about their sexual history, for example) it should be disallowed by the judge and edited out.

The justice system must also put victim-survivors’ wellbeing ahead of procedural rigidity. If the judge or counsel changes between the recording and the trial, the testimony should still stand. Continuity of legal personnel should never come at the cost of a victim-survivor’s mental health.

Finally, courts should be empowered to record testimony in a location that best supports the victim-survivor/complainant - especially those in regional and remote areas, who should not be forced to travel far from their families, communities and support services just to participate safely in the justice system.

I urge you to take this opportunity to champion a model that is evidence-based, survivor-informed and ready to implement. I invite you to review Fair Agenda’s report, Improving the court experience: A model for pre-recorded testimony in sexual assault cases. This report sets out a clear, practical pathway to make this reform a reality across Australia.

Victim-survivors have carried the burden of navigating a broken system for far too long. You have the power to help deliver the dignity, choice and protection they deserve.

Thank you for your commitment to a fairer and safer justice system for victim-survivors.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?