NSW Government Introduces ‘Right To Ask’ Trial

The NSW Government will launch today a new scheme which will allow women to find out whether their partner has been convicted of any domestic violence offences.

Revealed by the Daily Telegraph, the Right to Ask scheme is designed to prevent people, particularly women, from experiencing domestic abuse by being able to check on a person’s past.

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Premier Dominic Perrottet will announce the scheme officially today. 

The scheme is the first trial of its kind in Australia since 2016, when the NSW Government trialled a similar program to disclose past convictions. 

“There are simply too many heartbreaking stories of women and men being seriously hurt or murdered in circumstances where the perpe­trators had a history of prior domestic and violent criminal offences that they didn’t know about,” Mr Perrottet told the Daily Telegraph.

Strict provisions will be in place including ID checks and a statutory declaration confirming the person applying for information is in a relationship with the person they are asking about.

Malicious applications will be penalised – which means legislation will need to be passed after the state election in March.

The scheme will be reviewed in 12 months.

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