Activity details
Trial Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service (WDVCAS) support for women victim-survivors in domestic and family (DFV) related court hearings. The pilot will be expanded to cover all courts that regularly hear DFV matters from November 2023.
The pilots aims to:
- Reduce the stress and trauma associated with the court process for women victim-survivors.
- Reduce the likelihood that women victim-survivors may disengage from the court process, either by failing to attend their hearing date or becoming an unfavourable witness.
- Help women victim-survivors give accurate evidence.
- Help women victim-survivors to obtain protection orders with appropriate conditions to ensure their safety.
- Increase successful prosecutions for DFV charges.
Implementation progress update
The pilot started in November 2022 in 14 WDVCAS locations, covering 73 Local Courts, and the pilot expanded to all remaining WDVCAS locations in November 2023. The pilot now operates at every local court in NSW that regularly hears DFV matters.
In April 2024, the University of Technology Sydney delivered an independent evaluation of the pilot. The evaluation found that the pilot is meeting its objectives and that hearing support should be funded to continue as a standard part of WDVCAS service delivery.
The NSW Government has committed an additional $272.7 million over 4 years to address family, domestic and sexual violence in the 2025-26 budget. This includes $13.7 million to continue the pilot for a further two years, until 30 June 2027. The funding for 2025-26 will be from the renewed Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses (FDSV Responses) 2025-30 component of the FDSV Responses 2021-2030 Federation Funding Agreement, funded by both the Commonwealth and NSW.
More information
- Learn about the National Plan to End Violence against women and children 2022-2032.
- Read the First Action Plan 2023-2027.
- Browse the First Action Plan 2023-2027 Activities Addendum update.