Push for ‘victim advocates’ to support alleged rape survivors in court following Bruce Lehrmann trial

There are growing calls for a major overhaul of the way rape complainants are treated within the justice system in the wake of the Bruce Lehrmann trial, with a former federal court judge urging governments to appoint victim advocates to support women through the process.

Prosecutors in the ACT on Friday announced they would not seek a second trial of Lehrmann because of the “significant and unacceptable risk to the life” of Brittany Higgins who is receiving mental health support in hospital.

The decision means Lehrmann, who pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent, will not face trial and retains the presumption of innocence.

But revelations about the impact of the court process on Higgins have prompted calls for changes to better support complainants.

The Australian National University’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, of which Higgins is a member, said the case underscored the “huge toll faced by complainants in sexual assault prosecutions”.

“There is a clear need for ongoing law reform and practical changes in both the criminal justice system and the laws, processes and institutions that prohibit workplace harassment and ensure safe, respectful workplaces,” the institute said in a statement on Friday.

“The personal price she has paid has been astronomical. We cannot continue to expect individuals to pay such a price in the pursuit of justice, let alone systemic change.”

The head of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and a former federal court judge, Anthony North QC, produced a comprehensive blueprint last year for system-wide reforms to better support complainants while protecting an accused’s right to a fair trial.

North said complainants needed to be supported at every stage of the process.

The reforms proposed by the commission include establishing online reporting systems for initial complaints, improved training for police in obtaining a complainant’s version of events, independent scrutiny of prosecutorial decisions, specialised training for judges hearing sexual offences, and greater use of video recordings of a complainant’s evidence in retrials.

In court, Higgins was supported by the victims of crime commissioner Heidi Yates.

North has called for the establishment of a more formal system of independent victim advocates, who would advise complainants from the earliest possible stage of the process, inform them about the way the justice system works and “hold the hand of the victim-survivor at the time of greatest trauma”.

“The figures … are just incredibly disturbing,” he said.

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“One in five women over 15 have experienced a sexual assault in their lifetime. Less than one-third of those ever get to being reported. Of those that are reported, about one-third are prosecuted … and then those that get to trial, there’s a 50% conviction rate, which is somewhat less than other criminal offences.”

The ACT attorney general, Shane Rattenbury, confirmed his government was considering reforms to juror misconduct laws after the ACT supreme court was left unable to punish the juror in the Lehrmann trial who brought in outside research material on sexual assaults, despite repeated instructions not to.

The government is examining whether majority verdicts should be allowed in the ACT – like other jurisdictions – though that work began prior to the Lehrmann trial.

“The chief justice has highlighted differences between the ACT and other jurisdictions, so what I want to do now is have a look in detail at what other jurisdictions do, look at what the current options are in the ACT and we will make decisions from there about whether reform is needed,” Rattenbury said on Friday.

Federal Greens senators Larissa Waters and Sarah Hanson-Young said they would pursue reforms to better support victims to come forward.

“To end Australia’s culture of sexual violence, harassment and abuse we must start by supporting victims to come forward, and dismantling power imbalances and gender stereotypes that deter them from doing so,” they said in a joint statement.

“The Greens support the work being done to identify problems with criminal justice responses to sexual violence and strengthen trauma-informed approaches and wrap-around services.”