The violation of knowing the perpetrator has access to your innermost thoughts
In the long and difficult reckoning between legal systems and those they have failed, Victoria has taken a meaningful step — committing to shield the private therapeutic records of sexual assault survivors from courtroom weaponisation. The announcement follows sustained advocacy from survivors including Brittany Higgins, whose own counselling notes were subpoenaed during a high-profile trial, exposing the raw contradiction between a system that asks survivors to come forward and then uses their healing against them. While Victoria moves, the federal government remains silent on a landmark 64-recommendation review, leaving the deeper architecture of injustice largely untouched.
- Survivors who report sexual assault risk having their most private therapeutic disclosures handed to the very people who harmed them — a legal reality that deters reporting and compounds trauma.
- Brittany Higgins and Nicole Meyer have spoken publicly about how their counselling records were used to undermine their credibility in court, turning the act of seeking help into a liability.
- Only 8% of women who are sexually assaulted report to police, a figure the Australian Law Reform Commission tied directly to systemic failures the federal government has yet to formally address.
- Victoria's government, prompted by an open letter and media scrutiny, has committed to restricting access to counselling records and expanding pre-recorded evidence rights for complainants.
- The federal government has offered funding for support services but no policy direction or timeline on the 64-recommendation review, leaving advocates and survivors waiting more than a year for substantive action.
Victoria has committed to strengthening legal protections for sexual assault survivors, focusing on two areas: restricting defence access to confidential counselling records and expanding the right to pre-record evidence in court. The announcement follows an open letter to Premier Jacinta Allan and Attorney General Sonya Kilkenny, co-authored by Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell and signed by advocates including Brittany Higgins and Nicole Meyer.
Higgins' experience during the 2022 trial of Bruce Lehrmann — in which her therapy records were subpoenaed and shared with the defence — has become a defining example of how the justice system can retraumatise the people it is meant to protect. She describes the experience as a violation. The records were largely hearsay, she notes, yet their disclosure forced her to relive her trauma. The trial ultimately collapsed due to juror misconduct; a later defamation case found, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann had raped her.
Nicole Meyer's story adds another dimension. Medical and counselling reports from early in her healing — before she could fully articulate what had happened — were handed to the defence before the trial of former school principal Malka Leifer. The defence used inconsistencies in those early accounts to attack her credibility. Leifer was acquitted on the five charges related to Meyer but convicted on eighteen related to her sisters. Meyer has since wondered whether confidentiality might have changed the outcome.
Clinical psychologist Rachel Samson explains that trauma memory is rarely linear — survivors often disclose in fragments as trust with a therapist builds over time. The legal system's tendency to treat early accounts as fixed truth can turn the natural process of healing into evidence of unreliability. Psychologists themselves face significant burden when subpoenas arrive, navigating legal processes without training or institutional support.
The reforms emerge against a backdrop of federal inaction. The Australian Law Reform Commission's March 2025 review found that 92% of sexually assaulted women do not report to police, and made 64 recommendations to address systemic barriers. Tasmania remains the only state offering absolute privilege for confidential communications. The federal government has provided $21.4 million for support services but has issued no formal policy response to the review. Higgins describes the silence as disheartening — a betrayal by a government that once positioned itself as a champion of women's safety. Purcell has urged Victoria to finalise its reforms before the parliamentary term ends, calling them not a solution to sexual violence, but a step toward a system that stops protecting perpetrators at survivors' expense.
Victoria's government has committed to strengthening legal protections around the confidential communications of people who have survived sexual violence, following sustained pressure from advocates including Brittany Higgins. The reforms will focus on two areas: restricting access to counselling records and expanding the right of complainants to pre-record their evidence in court. The announcement comes as Higgins has grown increasingly vocal about what she sees as federal inaction on a sweeping justice system review released more than a year ago.
Higgins' own experience crystallizes why these protections matter. During the 2022 criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who she accused of sexually assaulting her in Parliament House in 2019, her therapy records were subpoenaed by police and handed to the defence. She describes the experience as a violation—the thought that the person she accused would have access to her innermost thoughts, recorded in the safety of a therapeutic relationship. The records were largely hearsay, she points out, legally weak evidence that nonetheless forced her to relive her trauma. Lehrmann denied the assault; the trial collapsed due to juror misconduct. A later defamation case found, on the balance of probabilities, that he had raped her.
Higgins is not alone in this experience. Nicole Meyer, who along with her sisters Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper brought their former school principal Malka Leifer to justice, had her counselling and medical reports from a civil settlement handed to the defence before trial. Those reports came from early in her healing, when she could not yet articulate the full extent of what had happened to her. The defence used them to undermine her credibility. Leifer was acquitted of the five charges related to Meyer but convicted of eighteen charges related to her sisters. Meyer wonders whether the outcome would have been different had those early reports remained confidential.
Rachel Samson, a clinical psychologist and director of the Australian Association of Psychologists, explains that trauma and memory do not work in linear ways. It is common for survivors to disclose fragments of memory over time as trust builds with their therapist. Yet the legal system often treats early accounts as fixed truth, using inconsistencies or gaps as weapons against survivors. Samson also notes that psychologists face a costly and time-consuming burden when defending against subpoenas—they receive no specific training for these situations and must navigate the legal system at their own expense.
The push for reform began with an open letter to Victoria's Premier Jacinta Allan and Attorney General Sonya Kilkenny, penned by Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell and signed by Higgins, Meyer, and others. Following questions from the Guardian, Kilkenny confirmed the government would pursue the reforms. While Victoria already has strong protections for victim-survivors, she said, there is always more to do. The government will strengthen laws around pre-recorded evidence and counselling confidentiality, she committed, after continued consultation with survivors and experts.
The reforms sit against a backdrop of federal stalling. In March 2025, the Australian Law Reform Commission released a sweeping review of how the justice system responds to sexual violence. It found systemic barriers preventing survivors from accessing justice: ninety-two percent of women who are sexually assaulted choose not to report to police. The review made sixty-four recommendations. Tasmania is the only state that provides absolute privilege for confidential communications—meaning they cannot be accessed without consent, even if they contain relevant evidence. Yet the federal government has made no formal response to the review. Higgins describes the silence as disheartening. For a government that positioned itself as champion of women's safety, the abandonment feels complete.
A federal attorney general's spokesperson said the government had committed $21.4 million to strengthen support services following the review and was funding stakeholder engagement to inform future responses. But no timeline or substantive policy direction has emerged. Purcell welcomed Victoria's commitment and urged the government to consult with advocacy groups to ensure the reforms are in place before the parliamentary term ends. The changes will not end sexual violence, she said, but they could increase reporting and restore faith in a justice system that has failed too many survivors and protected too many perpetrators.
Notable Quotes
For a government that felt like they were representative of women's safety issues, for them to fall off like this, and to have no follow up, has been disheartening.— Brittany Higgins, on federal government inaction
This won't fix the scourge of sexual violence in our state, but what it will do is increase reporting of sexual violence and restore faith in our justice system, which has failed far too many survivors and protected perpetrators.— Georgie Purcell, Animal Justice Party MP
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter whether counselling records stay confidential? Aren't they just notes about what someone said?
They're not just notes. They're the record of someone's most vulnerable moments, often from early in their healing when they can't yet articulate what happened. When a defence lawyer gets them, they use gaps or inconsistencies to suggest the survivor is lying or confused. But trauma doesn't work that way—memory comes in fragments.
So the defence is using the therapy process itself as evidence against the survivor?
Exactly. And it's often hearsay—legally weak evidence. But it retraumatizes the person at the centre of it. Higgins describes knowing her accused rapist had access to her innermost thoughts. That's a different kind of violation.
Why hasn't the federal government acted on this? They had a whole review.
The Australian Law Reform Commission released sixty-four recommendations in March 2025. But the government has tabled it and moved on. No formal response, no timeline, nothing. Higgins says it's completely fallen off the agenda.
And Victoria is moving faster?
Victoria's attorney general committed to strengthening the laws after advocates pushed hard. But it's one state. The federal government could set a national standard—Tasmania already has absolute privilege. Instead, survivors are left waiting and wondering why their safety isn't a priority anymore.
What does absolute privilege actually do?
It means confidential communications cannot be accessed without consent, even if they contain relevant evidence. It protects the therapeutic relationship itself, not just the information in it. It says: this space is sacred, and the law will respect that.