NSW hotline for women to ask about partners’ past convictions could give false sense of security, critics warn

‘Only a tiny minority of domestic violence perpetrators actually have a conviction recorded,’ Greens spokesperson, Abigail Boyd, says. Photograph: kieferpix/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Women at risk of domestic violence could be lulled into a false sense of security by a reheated New South Wales government scheme that would allow people to look up their partner’s offending history, a leading expert has said.

The premier, Dominic Perrottet, said on Monday the Right to Ask scheme would keep women safer by allowing police to release information to them about their partner’s domestic violence convictions, over the phone or through an online portal.