Brittany Higgins criticises federal inaction as Victoria moves to protect victim-survivors’ counselling records

The Victorian government will strengthen laws regarding the use of victim-survivors’ confidential communications after a push by advocates including Brittany Higgins, who described her experience of having counselling records subpoenaed as a “violation”. In an interview with Guardian Australia, Higgins was also critical of the federal government’s lack of action following a sweeping review into the justice system’s responses to sexual violence, saying it had “completely fallen off the agenda”. But she said the issue was “too important to drop the ball on”, which was why she signed an open letter to the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and the attorney general, Sonya Kilkenny, calling for reform at a state level. The letter, sent to the government on Tuesday and penned by Animal Justice party MP Georgie Purcell, called for greater legislative protections for complainants’ confidential communications – including their counselling, psychiatric and medical records – and asked that all complainants in sexual offence proceedings be given the option to pre-record their evidence. Following questions from Guardian Australia, Kilkenny confirmed the government would pursue the reforms. She said while Victoria had “some of the strongest legal protections” for victim-survivors, there was “always more to be done”. …