Renee Leon, who was ousted as secretary in 2019 following a government shake-up of the public service, has been named as the chair of the steering committee on territory government's sexual assault prevention and response.

The group was established to co-ordinate the community, service sector, unions and stakeholders on responses to sexual assault in the ACT. It was set up by ACT Minister for Women Yvette Berry earlier this year.

Ms Leon has also previously worked in the ACT government as the chief executive of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate. Sexual assault reforms were also undertaken during her time as head of the directorate.

Ms Leon said sexual assault reforms were an issue she felt strongly about, both personally and professionally for a number of years.

"It really is a privilege and an honour to be able to lead this work," she said.

"Sexual assault affects too many in our community, in fact it affects our whole community, not just victim survivors but also their families and the people who they interact with.

"It is really critical this is being led by the experiences of victim survivors and that we listen to them and what's working for them and what's not."

The steering committee will oversee four working groups, each with a specific focus: sexual assault prevention, response and law reform. The fourth group focuses specifically on workplace issues.

Ms Leon said it was important that reforms looked beyond law changes.

"I think making the justice system more amenable to victim-survivors experiences could increase the proportion of people who report but they'll nevertheless be many who don't report for a host of reasons," she said.

"They also need support, advice, therapeutic help, validation of what has happened to them and whatever support they do need if they want to report."

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Ms Berry said that Ms Leon would advise on key priorities for future work and action by government.

"Renee Leon has significant experience as a CEO across a range of different areas for over 15 years," she said.

"I'm really happy that she's taken up this role, to support the work that we're doing across the ACT community in responding, preventing sexual assault in the ACT."

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