Changing court rules is being acknowledged as a big step, but one that's necessary to tackle domestic violence.

Greater information sharing between the family court and the criminal court has been given the green light, including access to whether an offender has a history of family violence in previous relationships.

Labour's justice spokesperson Jacinda Ardern said it's a good move, but they do need to monitor how it works in practice.

"We do need to keep working alongside the judiciary to make sure we get this right though because we are pushing some boundaries.. But we do have to do something to start bringing down some of those horrific statistics."

She said there can be a lot of scrutiny of a judge's decision, so it's only fair they're given access to the best information.