Minns government to overhaul sexual assault trials to reduce trauma

The NSW government is unveiling a suite of changes to adult sexual assault trials aimed at avoiding re-traumatising complainants and curbing inappropriate lines of questioning.

Under reforms to be introduced in Parliament on Tuesday, recorded police interviews with adult complainants will be able to be used as their evidence-in-chief in court, in line with existing arrangements for children under 16 and cognitively impaired people.

“Ground rules” hearings – a pre-trial process used in child sexual assault proceedings to set parameters about how a complainant will be questioned – will also be piloted from next year.

Attorney-General Michael Daley said the changes would “go a long way towards making it less traumatising for sexual assault complainants to seek justice”.

“We want to help them give their best evidence by ensuring they do not need to tell their story multiple times, and deterring inappropriate and irrelevant questioning in court,” Daley said.

The evidence-in-chief is a complainant’s first evidence in the trial and is followed by cross-examination by the defence and any re-examination by the prosecution.

The government said allowing recorded evidence at this first step would help minimise distress and trauma for complainants because the evidence would only need to be given once, including in the event of a retrial.

Adult complainants would still be required to appear in court for cross-examination and re-examination. However, a review next year of the provisions relating to children will consider the feasibility of adults pre-recording all their evidence.

The jury is played the recording rather than observing the evidence as it is given.

The pilot of ground rules hearings will run at Parramatta, Wollongong and Dubbo District Courts from 2027 until 2030.

The court can provide directions about the duration and manner of questioning, the topics that may be canvassed by counsel, and any supports the complainant requires.

The complainants’ needs are assessed via questionnaire with the support of a Witness Assistance Service Officer, who works within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Professors Julia Quilter and Luke McNamara, criminal law experts at the University of Wollongong and UNSW respectively, analysed transcripts from 75 sexual offence trials in the NSW District Court between 2014 and 2020 in a report published in 2023 .

They found complainants were “still routinely questioned in ways that place them at the centre of intense scrutiny and judgment that is underpinned by rape myths” and assumptions about what constitutes “a real rape”.