Today in Parliament, Abigail passed a motion commending the report “What No One Told Us: How critical gaps in legal literacy shape poor responses to sexual assault in Australia, and the way forward” compiled by the victim-survivor advocacy organisation, With You We Can.

Abigail said:

I move:

(1)     That this House notes that:

• With You We Can, an advocacy organisation led by victim-survivors, released their report “What No One Told Us: How critical gaps in legal literacy shape poor responses to sexual assault in Australia, and the way forward” in November 2025;
• With You We Can is led by lived expertise and informed by advocates, experts and frontline services, fighting to demystify the police and legal processes for victim-survivors of sexual violence while working to improve them;
• the report highlighted the following statistics from sources including the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare:
  • one in five women and one in 16 men in Australia have experienced sexual violence as adults;
  • 60 percent of women and 51 percent of men who have been sexually assaulted have experienced more than one incident;
  • women are eight times more likely than men to experience sexual assault by an intimate partner;
  • both women and men are more likely to experience sexual assault by a person they know than by a stranger;
  • 92 percent of women don’t report their most recent sexual assault;
  • rates of non-disclosure are higher in Indigenous than non-Indigenous communities. At least 90 percent of physical and sexual violence against First Nations women is not disclosed to police; and
  • 85 percent of reports that are made do not progress to a charge;
• the report found that:
  • among perpetrators of sexual violence, there are differences in the severity, frequency and forms of use of violence, yet patterns of co-occurrence and overlap are common: individuals who perpetrate one form of violence may also perpetrate others;
  • for all types of domestic and sexual violence, the higher the number of prior offences, the greater the likelihood of reoffending;
  • the vast majority of known offenders, around 97 percent, are male;
  • men’s violence against women is historically understood to be a manifestation of unequal power relations between men and women. Contributing factors include: condoning violence against women, men’s control over decision-making and restrictions on women’s independence, rigid gender stereotyping, dominant forms of masculinity and male peer cultures that emphasise aggression, dominance and control;
  • sexual assault is diverse in perpetration and impact, yet legal and social responses remain narrow, leaving marginalised communities over-represented as victims and under-served by justice;
  • First Nations women, sex workers, trafficked women, migrant women (particularly those on temporary protection and partner visas) and many others often fear potential misidentification as perpetrators or a potential charge on an unrelated crime on presenting to a police station to report sexual assault;
  • women with a disability are twice as likely to report sexual violence than women without disability;
  • nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are estimated to be around three times more likely to experience sexual violence than non-Indigenous women;
  • in sexual assault cases, attrition is extreme, with those who do report facing systematic drop-off at every stage and the justice system itself becoming a source of further harm rather than resolution;
  • police decision-making is heavily influenced by rape myths and a misapplication of legal principles, including the belief that they must prove a case ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ at investigation stage;
  • despite prosecution almost always being in the public interest, prosecutions in Australia are only likely to proceed when they align with rape myths; and
  • for the small number of cases that survive investigation and charging, delays are brutal, with sexual violence matters often taking twice as long as other criminal cases with repeated adjournments; and
• the report made the following recommendations:
  • embed legal literacy in our communities, including through legal literacy in the consent curriculum and a national legal literacy campaign; and
  • a national roll out of Independent Legal Representation, which provides victims with their own lawyer during criminal prosecution who is independent of the prosecutor and prioritises the victim’s interests, and is the most legitimate route through which to meet these needs.

(2)     That this House commends all those involved in putting together this important report, including Sarah Rosenberg, Executive Director of With You We Can, and the many victim-survivors, family supporters and experts who contributed.

(3)     That this House calls on the NSW government to commit to taking direct and immediate action to address the issues raised in the report, and to dismantle the barriers in police and legal systems which prevent victim-survivors of sexual violence from seeking justice, healing and recovery.

Read the transcript in Hansard here.

25 March 2026