Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

All Australians have the right to feel safe at work, to feel safe from the threat of injury or death, to feel safe from physical or psychological intimidation and to feel safe from sexual harassment. The Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022 brings us closer to eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace.

Sexual harassment is an increasing blight on Australian workplaces. According to a 2018 national survey conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission one in three people had experienced workplace sexual harassment in the preceding five years. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people, people with a disability and the LGBTIQ community this number is higher. And for women more broadly 39 per cent had experienced sexual harassment in their workplace. This represents a definite increase from previous national surveys. In 2003, just 11 per cent of people had experienced workplace sexual harassment. The Respect@Work report, overseen by Kate Jenkins, detailed the significant amount of work that needs to be done to make our workplaces safer, particularly for women. The report highlights how Australia has fallen behind when it comes to preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment, and provides recommendations on what can be done to fix this. The Albanese Labor government made a commitment to fully implement the recommendations of the Respect@Work report. This is something the previous government failed to do, so now it is up to our government to finish the job and help protect Australians from workplace sexual harassment.

This bill implements the remaining legislative recommendations from the Respect@Work report, with the exception of recommendation 28. Recommendation 28, which calls for a review into the fair work system to define and expressly prohibit sexual harassment, will be progressed separately by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. The reforms included in this bill are another example of this government fulfilling its election promises. They are vital to helping stamp out workplace sexual harassment and to making our workplaces more respectful and equitable for all Australians.

The changes greatly strengthen and clarify our legal frameworks relating to sexual harassment. The amendments cover the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986, the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, The Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004. They implement seven of the remaining Respect@Work report recommendations, with our government allocating $10.5 million in our budget for their implementation.

We are also implementing recommendation 17, which called for an amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act to introduce positive duty on all employers to implement reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual and sex based harassment, hostile work environments and victimisation. To assist with this, we have committed via $5.8 million in our first budget for the Human Rights Commission to educate employers on this new duty, and $2.6 million has been allocated to facilitate a process for disclosing historic sexual harassment incidences. This will support victims-survivors and identify improvements to be made. A further $2.1 million has been provided to ensure that the commission is the central point of contact for workplace rights information and provides a coordinated referral service.

We are implementing recommendation 18, which advised that the Australian Human Rights Commission be given the function of assessing compliance with the employer's positive duty and enforcement. We are replacing language in the respect at work act of 2021. This will ensure that an object of the act is to achieve substantive equality between men and women. This was listed as recommendation 16 (a). We are broadening the provisions relating to sex based harassment in the Sex Discrimination Act to ensure that conduct of a demeaning nature is covered, not just conduct of a seriously demeaning nature. We are also amending the Sex Discrimination Act to specifically prohibit conduct that contributes to a hostile working environment on the basis of sex. We are strengthening the Australian Human Rights Commission to have the capacity to inquire into systemic unlawful discrimination. We are removing barriers that inhibit representative bodies from continuing representative complaints in the Federal Court. The bill also inserts a cost protection provision in the Australian Human Rights Commission Act. This will provide greater cost certainty to parties during court proceedings. And we are ensuring that the Commonwealth public sector is also required to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on gender equality.

With the respect at work bill, our government is making workplaces safer for all Australians. We are taking action to prevent workplace sexual harassment. The Respect@Work report provides great insight into the face of workplace sexual harassment in Australia. The majority of employment related sexual harassment complaints are made by women. In 2017- 2018, 68 per cent of complaints received by the Australian Human Rights Commission were from women. The Respect@Work report also provided immense details on the contributing factors to workplace sexual harassment.

We also know that disparities in power are vital to our understanding of the causes of sexual harassment. This is reflected in the testimony of those who have been victims of sexual harassment. Many reported that the defining feature of the harassment was a lack of power compared to the harasser, and gender continues to be the primary power imbalance affecting sexual harassment. This can be compounded by other power imbalances, including racial differences, disability, sexual orientation, visa status and economic vulnerabilities. We also know that workplace culture and social norms are an important contributing factor.

To ensure victims have a voice, it is important to ensure that there is trust in complaints processes and a genuine perception of freedom from repercussions. Victims need to feel safe in reporting their harassment and also need the confidence that the issue will be addressed appropriately. The changes we are introducing today reflect the reality that it is everyone's responsibility to work towards eliminating workplace sexual harassment. For young people, the threat is heightened, particularly for young women, who have the combined vulnerabilities of inexperience, age, gender and unequal employment. This is made worse by higher rates of casual work and a lack of understanding of workplace rights. It is so important, particularly for young people and migrant workers, that their workplace rights are communicated and respected.

The union movement has always been there for workers, to educate and support them and to help minimise power imbalances. I know that because I have spent much of my working life here in this building as a staff representative and I have been a lead delegate for the United Services Union. I have supported many staff members who have experienced discrimination and/or fallen victim to power imbalances here in our workplace.

In my local community in the Illawarra, the number of young people of working age is higher than both the New South Wales and the national average, and this can leave them vulnerable to workplace harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination. Many of these young workers are employed casually in the retail and hospitality sectors. Our community is also a culturally and linguistically diverse one, which represents another potential vulnerability.

I speak today on this bill because I want my community to feel safe at their jobs. I want mums and dads in our region to feel confident that their children are being treated appropriately at work, and I want young people and women in particular to have a positive first step into the workplace, without the threat of harassment or discrimination. With this bill, the Albanese Labor government is taking a significant step towards honouring another election commitment, a commitment to fully implement the recommendations of the Respect@Work report. It's a major step forward in eliminating workplace sexual harassment. I have spent my working life fighting for working people. I have seen firsthand the devastation that workplace harassment and sexual harassment can cause to victims-survivors. We can and we must do better.

I would also like to thank Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins for her work on this report and on the report into the parliament. The Jenkins report led to the establishment of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service here in the building, a service that I as a staff member and as a staff representative have used. I have also recommended this service to other staff. And I have used it myself to help my development as a new employer here in the building. The staff at the PWSS are professional and caring, and it is one of the best developments that I have seen in my 30 years in this building. It will help to create a safer and more respectful workplace here.

With this bill, we step closer to a future of safe and respectful workplaces. I commend the bill to the House.

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