Trained midwives will now be able to conduct forensic examinations for victim-survivors of sexual assault in South Australia, under new regulations aimed at cutting long waits — after SA Health figures showed just 12 trained examiners serve the entire state. As the ABC reports, nine of those examiners are in Adelaide and only three cover regional South Australia.
Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the regulations, now in effect, respond to a recommendation of the SA Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, handed down in August 2025. "What the Royal Commission noted was particularly in regional areas there often isn't enough medical practitioners or registered nurses to conduct examinations in the case of sexual assault," he said. "Midwives who go through the appropriate training will be able to conduct examinations in sexual assault cases, making sure that there are more people right around SA that victim-survivors can go to … at these really horrific and horrifying times." Timeliness, he added, matters both for evidence — "to make sure that the evidence is as strong as it can be and doesn't degrade or deteriorate" — and for victim-survivors themselves, who often cannot wash or change clothes until an examination is done.
Health Minister Blair Boyer said midwives can undertake 40 hours of training, provided by the SA government's sexual assault service, Yarrow Place. "I'm confident that is going to really bolster the workforce, reduce any wait times, reduce the need for people to travel long distances around South Australia," he said. The demand is steady: 184 people have presented to Yarrow Place for forensic testing so far this year, after 281 last year. SA Health says it sees people as soon as possible, but that timing "can be dependent on factors such as other people being seen, delays related to travel, or the immediate health care needs or safety of the individual".
Advocate Abbey Hardie, who has lived experience with sexual violence, welcomed the change. "Midwives often have experience with very vulnerable and emotionally heavy situations where they are having to use these trauma-informed lenses," she said. "It's really shocking that for such a huge state we only have 12 people who can perform this really intense … medical procedure." More trained staff, she said, also gives victim-survivors more autonomy over who performs the examination.
Mary Leaker, from Embolden — SA's peak body for domestic, family and sexual violence services — called the change "a really important step in improving wellbeing and justice outcomes for victim-survivors of sexual assault, no matter where they live across the state", and said its impact should be monitored through SA Health data. "We are hopeful that it will reduce the need for victim-survivors living regionally and remotely to travel to Adelaide," she said. "We know that these reforms have had a positive impact in Tasmania, we are confident that it will make a difference."
Support is available from 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, and in South Australia from Yarrow Place.