The Wire

In May it was reported that victims of domestic violence in NSW who withdrew their police statements were being prosecuted for providing false witness. One month on and the NSW Police Minister has announced that this will no longer be the case.

The New South Wales Police Minister Mike Gallacher has intervened after reports surfaced in May of up to 20 indigenous victims of domestic violence who were jailed for retracting their statements to police.The Minister says that unless the claim is proven to be false, victims will no longer be prosecuted in NSW. The announcement comes just over a month after New South Wales Attorney General Greg Smith said there were “no plans” to change the practice of laying charges against alleged victims who withdrew claims of abuse.Domestic violence in Australia is unfortunately both common and widespread. The last survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found just under half a million Australian women reported that they had experienced physical or sexual violence or sexual assault in the past 12 months.And according to a Parliamentary Library research publication from 2011, Indigenous people experience violence at rates that are typically double or more those experienced by non-Indigenous people.