(NSW) Remove the Requirement to Separately Prove Injury in Victims Support Applications

Emily Lennard, Jemima Tabacco & Alanah Bowden
17 hours ago
8 min read

Author: Emily Lennard, Jemima Tabacco & Alanah Bowden | Publish date: 21/5/2026

Content Warning: Sexual Violence, Domestic and Family Violence

P: In NSW, victim-survivors of domestic and sexual violence must separately prove injury to access support under the Victims Support Scheme.
S: The NSW Attorney General should repeal Section 39(2)(b)(ii) of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 (NSW) to remove the requirement for victim-survivors of domestic and sexual violence to separately prove injury in order to access support under the Victims Support Scheme.
E: South West Sydney Legal Centre (SWSLC): ‘Remove the requirement to separately prove injury (per section 39(2)(b)(ii) of the Act) in Victims Support applications for domestic violence and sexual violence.’

Problem Identification:

Section 39(2)(b)(ii) of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 (NSW) (the Act) requires victim-survivors applying for ‘recognition payments’ under the Victims Support Scheme (VSS) to provide both ‘a police report, or a report by a Government agency’, and ‘a medical, dental or counselling report verifying … [they] have actually been injured as a result of an act of violence’.

According to a Joint Position Statement with 75 organisations published by Women’s Legal Service NSW (WLSNSW), the ‘requirement to separately prove injury in Victims Support [applications]’ in cases of domestic and sexual violence is ‘no longer relevant’. They have further said that this imposes ‘harm and trauma’ on victim-survivors.

Context:

Section 34 of the Act defines recognition payments as ‘a payment made in recognition of the trauma suffered by a victim of an act of violence or act of modern slavery.’ ‘Victim’ or ‘victim-survivor’ refers to people who have experienced violence and abuse.

The NSW VSS assists ‘people who have been injured due to a violent crime’. WLSNSW stated that ‘injury can be physical or threats of physical injury and / or psychological injury or harm.’

Community Legal Centres NSW (CLCNSW) highlighted that the requirement to separately prove injury is ‘an inheritance from the former Victims Compensation Scheme’ (VCS), where payments were based on injury severity, which was overhauled in 2013 by the VSS. WLSNSW noted that the move to the VSS from the VCS was intended to ‘better provide for the immediate needs of victim-survivors of violent crimes’, and ‘break away from a compensation model’.

Arguments:

Youth Law Australia (YLA) outlined in their review of the Act that ‘the requirement to separately prove injury in Victims Support applications is … outdated’. WLSNSW argued that ‘in the current scheme, there is now a set amount awarded for each category of the recognition payment [unlike the VCS], which is based on the type of crime committed … This means there is generally no need for any assessment of the severity of the injury.’ South West Sydney Legal Centre (SWSLC) noted that ‘the type of violence can be established from other evidentiary sources (for example police records and government funded [Domestic and Family Violence] service reports)’, which are already included in the application. CLCNSW highlighted that ‘the long-term impacts of … sexual [and] domestic violence … are well established. By their very nature, these crimes result in an injury.’ WLSNSW outlined that ‘the fact the violent crime was committed should … be sufficient to warrant “recognition”’, without the need to separately prove injury.

WLSNSW argued that ‘unnecessary barriers to accessing victims support can compound a victim-survivor’s trauma, leaving them feeling invalidated, unheard and the act of violence not acknowledged.’ Women's Health NSW stated, ‘the need to separately prove injury which requires victim-survivors to have to keep retelling their story is traumatic’. WLSNSW stated that ‘many women … have expressed concern at having to unnecessarily repeat their story in order to successfully access Victims Support.’ SWSLC highlighted a case study where a victim-survivor of domestic and sexual violence was required to repeatedly obtain proof of injury from multiple practitioners. They found that this resulted in repeated disclosure of the violence across 7 services to meet evidentiary requirements for a recognition payment application. Kingsford Legal Centre (KLS) highlighted that in ‘recount[ing] … [their] story on multiple occasions to multiple professionals’, victim-survivors suffer ‘a retraumatizing [sic] impact … which is not consistent with the aims of the scheme.’

Advice/Solution Identification:

SWSLC, WLSNSW, KLS and CLCNSW have all called for the removal of the need to separately prove injury in Victims Support applications. WLSNSW noted that this could better allow ‘victim-survivors [to] feel that their experience is heard, acknowledged and validated’, which is an important part of their ‘healing and recovery.’

Precedent:

There is international precedent for this. In the UK, a tariff system for sexual violence compensation is used, linking awards to the offence rather than requiring detailed evidence of injury.

Public Support:

Joint Position Statement:

This list reflects publicly stated positions and should not necessarily be taken as endorsement of this specific brief.

News Coverage:

Women’s Agenda - “Specialist navigators to guide victim-survivors through complex justice system in NSW”. Due to a recent funding package, this article highlighted how victim-survivors of sexual violence can be better supported throughout the process of seeking legal justice. By: Madeline Hislop | March 2026 - Read the article here.
SBS - “‘Nothing is fixing it’: The devastating numbers in Australia’s ‘national crisis’”. This article commented on the recent $4 billion investment in ‘keeping women and children safe’ issued by the Australian Government, and detailed its possible shortcomings. By: Cheyne Anderson | 25 November 2025 - Read the article here.
Law Society Journal - “NSW budget delivers boost for victim-survivors, yet concerns remain”. This article discussed the NSW Government’s bolstering of victim-survivor support services through the 2025-26 budget, and argued that the funding provided is not adequate for the soaring demand. By: Henry Ea | 2 June 2025 - Read the article here.
ABC News - “Review recommends major changes to how sexual violence crimes are handled in the courts”. The Australian Law Reform Commission suggested some alterations to the current management of sexual violence in the courts nationwide, focusing on reducing the prevalence of retraumatisation. By: Tom Lowrey | 6 March 2025 - Read the article here.

Where to go to learn more:

(2022) The case for removing the requirement to separately prove injury in NSW Victims Support applications: Joint Position Statement | Women’s Legal Service NSW - This statement directly called for the removal of the requirement to separately prove injury in NSW Victims Support applications, and outlined that the current system is no longer relevant or appropriate. View the full statement here.
(2022) Submission in response to the Statutory Review of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 | South West Sydney Legal Centre - This submission examined the Act with a focus on the Victims Support Scheme, and recommended that the functionality and accessibility of the scheme can be improved by removing the requirement to separately prove injury in cases of domestic violence and sexual violence. View the full submission here.
(2022) Statutory Review of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 | Youth Law Australia - This review highlighted that the requirement to separately prove injury in Victims Support applications is outdated and insensitive, and should be reformed so that the scheme can become more ‘trauma-informed, survivor-focused, culturally safe and accessible’. View the full review here.
(2025) Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence | Australian Law Reform Commission - This report defined the impacts of the current legal system on victim-survivors of sexual violence, and provided multiple recommendations on how the system could be improved. Read the report here.
(2022) A life course approach to determining the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in Australia: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health | Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety - This report used data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health to examine the prevalence and long-term impact of sexual violence across the course of women's lives in Australia. Read the report here.
Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 (NSW) - Read the full Act here.

Human Perspective:

Content Warning: Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence, Family Violence

Amira experienced domestic and sexual violence, and even after the relationship ended, its impact followed her into every step of recovery. As she sought support through health, legal, and family violence services, an extra workload was placed on her, alongside growing psychological distress. When applying to the NSW Victims Support Scheme, she was required to prove her injury through medical evidence, something that felt painfully obvious to her, yet still had to be formally articulated. With reluctance and vulnerability, she disclosed her experiences to a general practitioner, only to learn that, due to limited prior records, she would need documentation from multiple providers. This forced her to repeat her story again and again. Each retelling reopened wounds she was trying to heal, turning what should have been a pathway to support into a deeply retraumatising and exhausting process that placed an additional emotional burden on her when she needed care the most.

To protect the anonymity of those involved, this is a fictionalised account drawn from an amalgamation of real-life stories, experiences and testimonials gathered during the research process for this brief. Any resemblance to actual individuals is purely coincidental.

Conflict of interest/acknowledgment statement:

Rosenberg, S (2026). Chat regarding The NSW Victim Support Services Scheme [Video interview with Executive Director, With You We Can]. April 28, 2026.

Support

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Disclaimers

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Reference list:

Community Legal Centres NSW. (2022). Call for Better Solutions for Victim-Survivors. https://www.clcnsw.org.au/call-better-solutions-victim-survivors

Kingsford Legal Centre UNSW. (2022). Statutory Review of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013. 2022-Submission-to-Statutory-Review-of-the-Victims-Rights-and-Support-Act-2013-(NSW).pdf

Multari, P., Sun-Jae, A., & Tassell, M. (2022). Submission in response to the Statutory Review of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013. South West Sydney Legal Centre. Submission_Jul2022_Statutory_Review_Victims_Rights_and_Support_Act.pdf

NSW Government. (2026). Victims Support Scheme. https://www.nsw.gov.au/legal-and-justice/information-for-victims-of-crime/victims-support-scheme

Western Sydney Justice Clinic. (2024). NSW Victims Support Scheme: A Guide for Case Managers. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/content/dam/digital/images/schools2024/school-of-law-2024/NSWVictimsSupportScheme-AGuideforCaseManagers.pdf

Women’s Health NSW (2022). Review of the Victims Rights and Support Act - the need for support for victim-survivors – Joint submission. https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/documents/about-us/engage-with-us/public-consultations/review-of-the-victims-rights-and-support-act-2013-/joint-submission-dv-nsw.pdf

Women's Legal Service NSW. (2024, June 14). Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission Issues Paper: Justice Responses to Sexual Violence. https://www.wlsnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/WLS-NSW-Response-to-ALRC-IP-Justice-Responses-to-SV-w-Appendix-fa.pdf

Youth Law Australia. (2022). Statutory Review of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013. https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/documents/about-us/engage-with-us/public-consultations/review-of-the-victims-rights-and-support-act-2013-/Youth-Law-Australia-submission.pdf