More than 90 per cent of sexual assaults in Australia are never reported and for the few who do come forward, the majority disengage from the system during the police investigation.
This is not because they change their mind but because they are re-traumatised by the experience of seeking justice.
For Sarah Rosenberg, a survivor and legal literacy advocate who founded With You We Can, the experience of reporting her assault and seeking justice revealed multiple system failures.
"(The justice system) is a huge public institution that we rely on and yet people don't know anything about it and we are expecting victims to navigate it entirely alone," she told AAP.
"It's a real driver of rape culture that is overlooked, because people don't talk about the fact that the legal system makes it really difficult for people to report."
When trying to report her sexual assault, Ms Rosenberg endured a three-year legal process which started with contacting three police stations and speaking to five detectives to finalise her statement.
"It is genuinely luck of the draw ... I had some officers who were fantastic and then others who were absolute assholes," she said.
"(Police stations) can't have just any officer who isn't experienced in sexual assault cases greeting victims, because every interaction can define whether the victim reports, seeks help or pursues it."
With You We Can has released a white paper entitled What No One Told Us which shows that, despite growing public awareness of sexual assault, there is a direct link between low levels of legal literacy and poor justice outcomes for victim-survivors.
The report brings together national data alongside input from police officers, lawyers, criminologists and survivors.
It is calling for a national legal literacy campaign to inform victim-survivors, families, schools and frontline workers, as well as a rollout of independent legal representation for victim-survivors and legal process education in schools and universities.
Failures of the justice system often began not in the courtroom, but in the very first moments a victim-survivor sought help, former Victoria Police detective Jacob Gooden said.
"The system cannot come at a cost to survivors ... we need to do a better job of listening to survivors," he said.
"There is not enough time spent in the police academy on interactions with victims.
"It is very focused on extracting as much information as efficiently as possible which is obviously important, but victim welfare should be number one."
After leaving the force, Mr Gooden founded SAYFE, a software company that aims to deliver safer public spaces and give victims power, choice and a safe, anonymous way to report sexual violence.
"(Police) fall short not because of a lack of desire to do right, but because the system is not built for (them) to thrive," he said.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
