Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise proudly today to speak on the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. This is a bill that should have been introduced long ago, because, for too many years, female students have endured violence, harassment and abuse on our campuses, while many governments and institutions looked away. For too long, survivors have been left unsupported, unheard and disbelieved. So I stand here not only in support of this bill but in recognition of the generations of students, advocates and survivors who've fought relentlessly to make this moment possible.

I also stand here as a woman who has experienced sexual harassment. The truth of the matter is that most women you know will have experienced sexual harassment, attempted assault or assault at some point, because, unfortunately, rape culture is deeply embedded in many parts of our society. I remember the first time, as a younger woman, I experienced sexual harassment. I felt deeply threatened and shocked. It makes me nervous even to stand here and talk about it now, because there's still a great deal of stigma associated with having been sexually assaulted. A man ran his hand up my skirt as I served him his meal in a restaurant that I was working in as a waitress. I was told, when I reported it, that working in hospitality, as I did, just goes hand in hand with this type of thing.

As I got older and started going out and started going to university, for me, too, the harassment began to feel, well, just normal—'That's life. Just put up with it.' And this isn't a good thing. Women should feel shocked when facing harassment. It should feel strange, like something we've never heard of before. Instead, I remember, as a young woman, always being prepared, and moving in packs with the sisterhood. And this is how most young women live. We'd always have a friend accompany us to the bathroom. We'd have code words or looks to get a friend to intervene, or we'd hold hands over each other's drinks, or we'd have sleepovers, because no-one was allowed to go home alone. We were always ready to get into a fight for one another and we were always ready to be a social buffer to a man making unwanted advances, because, as a woman, you couldn't just say no; that would hurt a man's ego. And you never know how a man with a hurt ego will react. Will he become aggressive? Will he become abusive? Will he simply walk away and take no as an answer?

As girls, we knew we had to defend each other, because we didn't know what our institutions would do. Would they believe us? It certainly felt like they wouldn't, if your perpetrator was someone you'd previously had an intimate relationship with. And we all knew, of course, we'd be asked, 'What were you wearing?' or, 'How much did you drink?' or we'd be accused of leading a man on and getting ourselves into these situations. And of course too many women are met with, 'Well, what are you going to do? You don't want to ruin his career, do you?' or, worse, lose your own job for speaking up, because victim-survivors are left to live with lifelong consequences and a trauma that could shape their career, their relationships and their mental health forever. I know many women really struggle to connect with their own body in the aftermath, too, saying that it doesn't feel like their own anymore. Many struggle with feelings of shame and isolation that never really truly leave.

Every time my three daughters would go out, I would fear for them. I would find myself being one of those people looking at what they were wearing—are their skirts too short; are their necklines too plunging—and telling them to stick together, to not go on the streets alone, to not leave a place alone, to call me if they couldn't get a taxi. I was teaching my girls the way to behave and to act in society, out of my fear for them.

I especially feared when they were at university. I fear for every young woman, really, because the numbers are stark. Right now, one in six students experiences sexual harassment at university; one in 20 are sexually assaulted. Almost half don't know how to report it, and only one in two students felt like they were heard when they did make a complaint. We now know that our Indigenous students are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing sexual assault at university too—so too are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and non-binary students. Students with disability and our international students and students from migrant and refugee backgrounds are all at greater risk.

Most of us in this building will know someone who falls into one of these statistics. For me, it's Matilda, a young woman from my electorate. After a university ball one year, she returned to student accommodation with her friends, where, in front of others, a young man repeatedly groped her. Each time she said 'stop'. Each time no-one intervened. No-one came to her help. When she resisted, he pinned her against the wall, put his hand up her dress, and, when she fought back, he chased her, kicking at her door and screaming abuse. What happened next? Nothing. None of the other boys responded. Not even the other girls came to her aid. No-one knew what to do. There was no action from the university, and there were no social consequences for him. Instead, she was left isolated and treated as the problem.

This is the culture that we are fighting to end. This is the culture that we must end—a culture where violence is normalised and survivors are penalised. And they're penalised whether or not they choose to speak up, because, frankly, women who have been abused are treated as pariahs, and we have a culture where women who react, 'ruin the fun' or insult perpetrators are treated very negatively.

So we have this bill, the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025, and this bill is about trying to change this culture. It's a huge task, but this is a great moment, because this establishes a new, standalone regulatory framework to prevent and respond to gender based violence in higher education. It gives the Minister for Education the power to set a binding national code. A code will require universities to make campuses, workplaces and accommodation safe and respectful; to actively prevent gender based violence, not just respond to it; to support survivors with trauma informed care; and to hold leaders—vice-chancellors and senior executives—personally accountable for compliance. For the first time, there will be real oversight, real transparency and real consequences.

This isn't something that's just happened overnight either. It has come from the incredible work of survivors, advocates and student unions who have pushed for this reform for years, often at great personal cost. There would be many in positions of power who wouldn't have wanted these changes—who would have been fearful that they'd be held accountable themselves. So I want to acknowledge the powerful advocacy of all those who fought for this change, including all the victims-survivors from the STOP Campaign, from End Rape on Campus and from Fair Agenda. I know that last term, when they met with Minister Clare, they described their experiences on university campuses as deeply traumatic.

University is supposed to be time of learning new skills, making new friends and setting yourself up for life, and often this is not what ends up happening. The victims-survivors described a terribly inconsistent complaint process, a lack of materials on how to even make a complaint, a lack of education on consent and the lack of feedback when a complaint was made. One student described it this way: 'I'm sick of my friends being assaulted. I'm sick of begging to feel safe. I'm sick of feeling ignored.' To everyone who shared their own stories and experiences: thank you. I know how traumatic reliving your pain can be, but none of it is in vain.

I also want to acknowledge the incredible of work of the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and his leadership. It's so important that we have good male leadership and representation in our fight against gender based violence.

This bill builds on his work establishing the National Student Ombudsman earlier this year, ensuring students finally have somewhere independent to turn to when universities fail them. The ombudsman has also ensured a national perspective and experience of what's going on across our universities and gives students a consistent complaints process. So, whether you're in Melbourne, Perth, Wodonga, Cairns—it doesn't matter where you are; you'll get the same quality of response and care. The ombudsman is making important contributions towards the wider fight to end gender based violence, and in my own patch of social services, too.

These bills are part of a much bigger story, because the Albanese Labor government is leading a whole-of-government effort to end gender based violence. It really will take all of us. Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Social Services, and I are building on the incredible work done by the former social services minister, Minister Rishworth, including a record $4 billion investment into family, domestic and sexual violence prevention and response services. This includes prevention services that work with our men and boys to help them navigate their own trauma and unlearn sexist attitudes.

This is important when it comes to our young men because we know sexist attitudes, what it means to be a man and sexist views about women are honestly going backwards right now. The research shows us it's getting worse. We must keep up with the times and respond to some of the terrible misinformation and hate that is being perpetrated online. We must catch harmful sexist attitudes even before our young men go to university.

I know the Attorney-General, Minister Rowland, off the back of the incredible work of the previous minister, Mark Dreyfus, is strengthening our legal system so it's safer for victims-survivors and easier to navigate, because we know right now that 92 per cent of female victims-survivors of sexual assault committed by a male did not report their most recent incident to police. Ninety-two per cent did not report. This is not good enough.

And we mustn't forget the social drivers of gender inequality, because while women are economically disadvantaged they are less likely to be able to flee abuse. That's why we're making record investments in education, housing, health and social services and we're increasing wages in female-dominant industries. Ending gender based violence will take every level of government, every institution and every community. Tackling economic inequality is vital to repairing the gender inequality that exists in our society.

Right now, it is not good enough for victims-survivors to carry the voices of trauma for the rest of their lives alone, constantly telling them that their body and agency were taken from them, constantly interfering with their mental health, career and relationships. Every student deserves to feel safe. Every parent deserves to know their child is protected. Every victim-survivor deserves justice, dignity and support.

This bill is about ensuring that no student's future is stolen from them by sexual violence. I'm deeply proud to support it. I commend the bill to the House.

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