(Transcript from World News Radio)
People who fear they may be at risk of domestic violence are for the first time in Australia to be allowed to ask the police about their partner's past violent offending.
It's part of a pilot scheme in New South Wales.
Phillippa Carisbrooke reports.
In New South Wales alone, 143 people were killed by their intimate partners between 2000 and 2010.
With research showing domestic violence is rarely a one-off incident, the state government made an election promise to protect people at risk by piloting a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, similar to one in Britain.
It will allow people to request information from the police about their partner's violent past.
Concerned friends and family could potentially have the "Right to Ask" too.
Police may also have the right to disclose information to a person, even where that person hasn't asked for it.
The details of the scheme are still being worked out, with the community asked for its input.
New South Wales' Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Pru Goward, says the scheme will help people to make informed decisions about their relationships.
"If the decision is made that the information can be disclosed that empowers that women to decide if she stays or if she leaves that relationship."
New South Wales Rape Crisis runs counselling services for people who've experienced or are at risk of sexual assault.
It would like to see disclosed all of a person's violent convictions - not just those concerning domestic violence.
Executive officer Karen Willis says people should be told what offences have been committed; how long ago; how many people were targeted; and if children were involved.
"What I also think is critical within that process is that as well as police being involved in that information disclosure is that support services be there as well. So that people who is hearing this information about someone that they may even love can have an opportunity to think about their current plans for safety."
The chief executive of the state's peak body for domestic violence - Domestic Violence New South Wales - says it's "crucial" specialist services providing legal assistance and support after sexual assault are embedded in the scheme.
But Moo Baulch has a warning.
"I think the system is already stretched and I am concerned that there needs to be an allocation of dedicated funding around sexual assault and family violence service for victims and their families throughout this process."
Indigenous Australians experience domestic violence at significantly higher rates than non-Indigenous people.
Karen Willis foresees them being helped through the process by community organisations.
She also anticipates newly-arrived migrants and refugees, who may not be proficient in English, getting tailored support.
"Police are also increasingly good at doing this kind of work and certainly engaging with people who may have cultural or linguistic diversity, or indigenous people, who may not have had a terribly good history with police."
But Karen Willis does have some hesitations about how effective the new scheme may be.
She says due to significant under-reporting of domestic violence, police may have no record of an individual's alarming past behaviour.
And she says for safety reasons, at no point during the process should a person be informed that they're the subject of an inquiry.
"It is very likely that would be a trigger point to escalate the violence. And we could end up with a very unsafe situation almost immediately."
Moo Baulch also has doubts about the scheme.
She says women subjected to violence already know what their partners are capable of, and what they need is an escape route, or financial independence so they can start over.
She's also concerned about how agencies might deal, long-term, with individuals who stay with a person after being told of their violent past.
"We live in a society where there is still a really strong culture of victim blaming. If a woman doesn't leave a relationship and she's had a disclosure of domestic violence we have concerns about how that might be used against a woman in care or protection and family law proceedings for instance."
The pilot scheme will run for two years, starting in 2016.
Four trial locations are still to be decided.
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