Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. Many in this chamber have studied at or been to a higher education institution. Any one of us could probably name six university students among their wider circle of friends, family and neighbours. Statistics show that one of them will be sexually harassed. Even worse, one in 20 university students is sexually assaulted. This is unacceptable, to put it politely.

For me, it is personal. I have twin boys, and nieces and nephews, and like many in this chamber I know children of friends who are or have been university students. My electorate has one of the largest student populations in the country. It is home to two of Queensland's largest and most prodigious universities: the Queensland University of Technology, my alma mater; and the University of Queensland Herston campus. Students and staff in higher education deserve to be and feel safe. We have to do better, and that's why I'm proud to speak to this bill today.

As the minister said, the bill seeks to establish a new standalone regulatory framework to reduce the incidence of gender based violence. It will ensure that higher education providers prioritise safety, strengthen prevention efforts and improve the response to gender based violence. Importantly, it will also hold them accountable for their performance, including on incidents in student accommodation.

The bill does this by enabling the Minister for Education to make a national higher education code to prevent and respond to gender based violence. This will set best practice standards and requirements that higher education providers will need to meet to effectively prevent and respond to gender based violence. This legislation is based on sound, research based statistics and policy development going back a number of years—and we've heard about some of these today—because, sadly, gender based harassment and violence is a longstanding issue in our higher education institutions.

National Union of Students surveys dating back to 2011 have repeatedly identified concerning levels of assault and harassment on campuses and in student halls. A landmark Australian Human Rights Centre 2017 report, On safe ground, identified three significant factors: (1) in line with the findings by the NUS, there are concerning levels of sexual assault and harassment within Australian universities; (2) women students, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, culturally and linguistically diverse students, international students, students with disability and LGBTIQ+ students are more likely to experience incidents of sexual assault and harassment; and (3) the response of many universities to addressing complaints of sexual assault and harassment is often inappropriate or inadequate, with students being not believed or feeling blamed.

We've heard the stories and seen the media reports about the unsavoury practices of hazing and encouraging new and vulnerable students to participate in such practices. It used to be laughed off as part of university life or, in the military, as part of military life for the newbies and the freshers, but now we recognise it for what it is, and so we should: preying on the vulnerable—more often than not young people who just want to feel accepted. Now we call it out for what it is: harassment, assault and personal violence. We know the human cost to the victims is huge. But there's also the economic cost and the health costs of dealing with the potential impact on victims' mental health, and, to take an economic rationalist view, there is also the economic cost from adverse impacts on academic performance and completion rates. Uncompleted studies waste educational resources and cost us potential contributors to an economy at a time when Australia is seeking to build its international competitiveness.

A lot's happened so far. States and territories came together as part of the national Education Ministers Meeting to tackle the issue, leading to the development of the Action Plan Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education. It was released in February last year. Also, importantly, in the 2024 budget the government allocated almost $19 million over four years to introduce a national higher education code to prevent and respond to gender based violence, which started from 1 January this year. So there are runs on the board already.

The National Student Ombudsman—which we've heard about from a few today—is a key measure of that action plan and they started their operations on 1 February this year. It enables higher education students to escalate complaints about the actions of their higher education providers, including gender based violence complaints. Sadly, research shows that many students and staff don't know where to seek support or where to go to make a formal complaint to the higher education provider, and those that do are often dissatisfied with the process. In fact, the 2021 National Student Safety Survey by Universities Australia found that, where formal complaints were made about sexual assault, fewer than half of the complainants were satisfied with the process overall. The ombudsman will have powers similar to the royal commission and will investigate complaints made against the university—something advocates have sought for years. Together, these measures will ensure greater oversight and accountability of the higher education providers and help drive the social change we need to see in the higher education sector to prevent and respond to gender based violence. The ombudsman was an important first step towards keeping students safe and ensuring they are heard when they make a complaint. This bill is a crucial step in that regard.

The national code will also ensure the factors that drive and contribute to gender based violence are being addressed in higher education communities and that the prevention efforts are at the forefront to help create the cultural change that is needed. Accountability for compliance with the national code will sit at the highest levels of the provider organisation, meaning vice-chancellors and CEOs will be directly responsible. Compliance will involve regular reporting to a provider's governing body of incident data and efforts to prevent and respond to gender based violence. Change will also be driven by requirements for providers to develop a gender equality action plan and gender impact assessments, and they will need to provide evidence based education and training on the factors that drive and contribute to gender based violence.

The national code will require policies, procedures and processes for responding to gender based violence in a trauma informed way and ensuring key functions are undertaken by people who have the appropriate skills and expertise. This should help to improve the experiences and outcomes for people who disclose their experience of gender based violence, strengthening their disclosure autonomy to ensure they are heard and appropriately supported. To monitor and enforce the national code, a new, specialist gender based violence unit is being established within the Department of Education. The unit will provide guidance, education and advice to support higher education providers to understand and meet the requirements of the national code.

The bill creates a range of powers to enable the unit to monitor and respond to noncompliance with the bill or the national code, including monitoring and investigation powers, as well as powers to issue compliance notices, seek civil penalties and injunctions, issue infringement notices and enter into enforceable undertakings. To strengthen and provide transparency and accountability, the bill enables the secretary to disclose information to the public about a higher education provider's compliance with the bill and the national code. Annual reporting on the unit's operations and performance of functions will be publicly available and tabled in both houses of parliament. The secretary will be able to share information with relevant regulatory and other bodies through their functions and powers and for certain purposes. The bill is part of a package with the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. This consequential bill amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to include compliance with the national code as a quality and accountability requirement for higher education providers approved under the act.

All violence, regardless of who uses it and who experiences it, is unacceptable. Unfortunately, it's not confined to university campuses. We see it in our homes, in our workplaces and on our streets. It is tough and complex to fix, but it's deeply rooted in all corners of our society and also plays out on our higher education campuses. For too long, as we have again heard today, students have been let down by universities and by inaction by previous governments. Over almost a decade of coalition government, this issue was placed in the too-hard basket. Universities and higher education providers have a responsibility to ensure their study, work, social and living environments are safe for students and staff. This government is taking strong action to ensure universities take this responsibility seriously and prevent and respond to gender based violence in higher education.

This is about university students we all know—people in your family, students that I have met in my campaign and ex-students, like a woman I spoke to recently about her experience at university. For privacy reasons, I will refer to her as Sarah. Sarah was kind and brave to let me share her story. Sarah said she was excited to go to university and had moved down from North Queensland to Brisbane to study law. This was her time to learn, to expand her thinking, to make new friends and lasting memories alongside other students. In Sarah's first year, she met a fourth-year student who quickly took a liking to her. She took Sarah under her wing and taught her what she needed to know about uni life.

On a night out, Sarah was drinking at a party and that fourth-year student took advantage of her, sexually assaulting her. Sarah said she felt confused and scared and that she didn't know who to turn to. She knew it was wrong and she didn't know what to do. She set up a meeting with the counsellor from the university a couple of days later. Sarah said it felt like the counsellor didn't have the skills or the knowledge to deal with these kinds of situations. She said they asked the wrong questions and left her feeling like she wouldn't get justice for what she had experienced. She said the counsellor didn't even advise her to report her to the police. Sarah felt alone. Sarah said many others had gone through similar experiences at the university. In fact, she said that the culture was indoctrinated and that young students are often vulnerable and impressionable. She said that the fourth-year students take the first-year students out for a night. They take them out drinking. They make you play games where you rack up points by completing the challenges that make you feel uncomfortable, but you yourself, as a student, just want to fit in. Sarah said, at the time during o-week, there was advice provided about excessive drinking but no education or advice about sexual assault and appropriate consent, nor what to do if it happened.

It was really brave of Sarah to share her story with me, along with those who've spent many years calling for reform and sharing their stories. To me, this bill is for them and for the people like Sarah so they don't feel unsafe or alone again when they are at university, when they're supposed to be in the prime of their life, enjoying, learning and becoming a stronger part of our community. We need to make sure that we stamp out this kind of behaviour not just in our universities but across the society. It's about keeping our young people and everyone else safe.

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