Six months ago the Upper House passed Abigail's motion calling on the NSW Government to introduce legislation to allow victim-survivors of sexual assault to prerecord their evidence. Today in Question Time, she pressed the Treasurer for a timeline on when this will be delivered.
Abigail said:
My question without notice is directed to the Treasurer, representing the Attorney General. The Victorian Attorney‑General recently announced that the Victorian Government will introduce laws to allow all complainants in sexual offence proceedings the option to prerecord their evidence. The House already passed a motion on 11 November last year, calling on the New South Wales Government to allow victim‑survivors of sexual violence to choose how they give evidence in court by ensuring that they have access and autonomy to rely on prerecorded evidence given in a safe and supportive setting. When will the New South Wales Government introduce legislation to ensure that all victim-survivors of sexual violence seeking justice through the courts are empowered with flexibility and choice to give evidence on their own terms?
The Hon. DANIEL MOOKHEY (Treasurer): I thank Ms Abigail Boyd for her question that is asked of me in my capacity representing the Attorney General...To answer the member's question, we are continuing to explore opportunities to strengthen our legislative framework and other justice system responses to sexual violence. As part of that, we are obviously considering and working on implementing the recommendations that arose from the Australian Law Reform Commission's final report Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses To Sexual Violence.
I am advised that recommendation 28 of the report states that the Commonwealth, States and Territories should enact or amend legislation to give adult complainants in sexual offence proceedings the option of giving their evidence at a pre‑recorded evidence hearing. I remind the House that in New South Wales children who are complainants or prosecution witnesses in sexual offence matters can already have their evidence prerecorded, with the recording later played in court. I also advise the House that in October 2023 our Government passed legislation that expanded the child sexual offence evidence program statewide to all District Court locations in New South Wales, meaning that prerecorded evidence hearings and witness intermediaries are available for children who are complainants. We continue to consider the 64 recommendations made by the Australian Law Reform Commission and are working with the Commonwealth on the implementations of those recommendations. I am advised by the Attorney that we are aware of the Victorian Government announcement regarding prerecorded evidence hearings for adult sexual assault complainants. We will be following the progression of that work closely.
Abigail responded to the Treasurer:
I thank the Treasurer for his answer. I appreciate there has been some progress in this area in New South Wales in the last little while. This one in particular is taking too long. It has been six months since the Government agreed to do this when they passed our motion, but the obstacles are huge. Some cases take four years or more to get to; some victims of sexual assault are expected to go to court four years after they originally gave their evidence, to then be grilled as to whether their memory is exactly correct four years on. Courts are an obstacle, and those cases are failing at that point. This is an easy thing to do, and we encourage the Government to do it quicker.
Read the transcript in Hansard here.
26 May 2026