And no-one is more pleased to see the first step - greater collaboration between agencies - than Cootamundra Local Area command’s crime manager Paul Huxtable.

Detective Inspector Huxtable said alliance had come in the form of a series of meetings attended by representatives of a range of advocacy groups and organisations, the fourth of which was recently held in Young.

With the incidence of domestic violence-related assaults in the Young Local Government Area (LGA) numbering 635.4 per 100,000 population - the rate is the highest across all south east NSW LGAs.

“The Young Shire has has some poor reporting in terms of figures around domestic-related assault and traditionally this might have been confined to being just a police matter,” he said.

Thanks to the newly formed Young Domestic Violence Reference Group, issues victims traditionally face are now being addressed.

“Now we’re looking at the victim and what can be put in place to provide them with more support - and that support could range from counselling to housing to legal guidance.”

The multi-agency response to people at serious, imminent risk of domestic violence has been trialled in Orange and Sydney’s Eastern suburbs over the past year, with plans to roll it out across the state by 2019 as part of the NSW Government’s five-year domestic and family violence reform strategy called It Stops Here.

Victims of violence are referred to the Safer Pathways co-ordination point if they have come into contact with police across the Eastern Suburbs, Eastern Beaches, Rose Bay and Botany local area commands.

A team kicks in immediately, co-ordinating a safety response across all local service providers. 

Women at risk of being killed are added to a fortnightly meeting of senior police, domestic violence workers and service providers who come up with an action plan.

It prevents victims from having to repeat their story or be passed from agency to agency.

Detective Inspector Huxtable said he hopes Young will also be targeted for early attention in terms of ongoing rollouts.

“Until that happens, it benefits all of us to get together and talk about what is going on locally - we all know each other now and that means we’re out of the pits and onto the track in terms of getting something happening here,” he said.

He said sharing and dissemination of information meant victims were more empowered to take legal action, more perpetrators were being charged and the crime scene was entering through measures such as video taping victims - which gave the crimes higher visibility.

A new tick and flick questionaire system also allows agencies to determine risk.

“We’ve come a long way from domestic violence being a family or police matter - everyone is now aware and talking about it, taking more interest in prevention - and that’s a better outcome already,” he said.