Courts in NSW will allow pre-recorded evidence to serve as a victim's principle examination and impose restrictions on counselling records, as part of new legislation introduced in parliament on Tuesday.
Some districts will additionally trial rule-setting hearings to protect victims and witnesses.
Minister for Women Jodie Harrison said the language and questioning used in court could often be triggering and re-traumatising for victims of sexual assault.
"I often hear about victims being asked 'what were you wearing?', 'how many drinks had you had?', 'you were up for it?' - those kinds of things are put before a court and they are not okay," she told reporters.
The minister said the reforms were about improving the experience of sexual violence victims in the justice system by setting some "ground rules."
"We know that there is actually a really poor number of cases of sexual assault that go through to court and actually get successfully prosecuted."
The changes draw upon active practices in child sexual assault prosecutions.
Attorney-General Michael Daley described the changes as "commonsense reforms".
A pilot program will permit courts at Parramatta, Wollongong and Dubbo to set parameters for the questioning of complainants in new ''ground rules'' hearings.
The rules would affect the duration, manner and topics of examination.
The trial is to run from 2027 to the end of the decade, backed by a $4.3 million investment.
The package also enables courts to consider recorded interviews between qualified specialist police and complainants as evidence in chief.
Complainants would answer initial questioning just once early in the charge process, with the same evidence used in the case of a retrial.
Children and the mentally impaired already benefit from the arrangement, which exists to minimise distress and trauma.
Recorded evidence in chief is also currently used in domestic violence prosecutions.
That provision is also extended to domestic violence-related apprehended violence order proceedings under the changes.
Women's Safety Commissioner Hannah Tonkin said complainants were often subject to inappropriate questioning.
Pre-recorded evidence allowed victims to give more precise accounts of attacks and ''to start rebuilding their lives sooner'', Dr Tonkin said.
But advocacy group Fair Agenda said the reforms fell short, and a special hearing to pre-record testimonies was needed.
''We are extremely concerned that rather than delivering the reform called for by survivors, this plan instead shifts a vital part of the testimony for the court process from experienced prosecutors to local police," the group's campaign manager Jacinta Masters said.
The legislation also tightens how complainants' counselling records are used in proceedings.
Courts will be permitted to consider counselling records only when deemed necessary.
The University of Sydney is conducting a wide-reaching study into sexual assault communications privilege, which was commissioned in July with findings expected midway through 2027.
The research will examine how often counselling records are subpoenaed and used in court - and whether the practice should be banned outright.
Dr Tonkin previously suggested the practice made victims choose between seeking justice or therapy.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Lifeline 13 11 14
Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491
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