Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

All women who have attended tertiary facilities in Australia know someone who's been raped on a university campus. It's well past time that our government intervened to create stronger measures to combat gender based violence on university campuses, and this legislation is a really important part of that work.

The Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025 comes after investigations by groups like the National Union of Students and the Australian Human Rights Commission—numerous investigations which have consistently identified really concerning levels of sexual assault and harassment in Australian universities. After the landmark 2017 Change the course report, there were more reports from groups like End Rape on Campus Australia and from the Stop Campaign which described sexual violence, hazing, bullying, intimidation and inadequate support for victims-survivors of gendered violence at our universities across the country. The 2021 National Student Safety Survey found that one in six students had been sexually harassed and one in 20 sexually assaulted at our universities. Those rates were much higher in women and in gender-diverse students. It's likely that that data underrepresents the reality. Only 5.6 per cent of students who took part in the survey and who had reported being sexually assaulted had actually made a formal report to their institution. Fewer than one in three of those who were brave enough to come forward were satisfied with how their university handled their complaint. More recent research has shown that 40 per cent of female international students have experienced at least one form of sexual violence since arriving in this country. That is an absolute disgrace. At the same time, the National Tertiary Education Union found that almost one in three university staff has also been sexually harassed in the workplace.

The responses of many universities to these sorts of complaints of sexual assault and harassment have long been deemed inadequate or inappropriate. Students have told us that they have been disbelieved or blamed and that their confidentiality has been breached in the process of any investigations that might have been undertaken. Our institutions have come up with ineffectual and underpoliced measures to try and tick a box on their responsibilities—schemes like Consent Matters, which was called out by both students and experts as being unhelpful and ineffective. A recent Senate inquiry was also critical of the failure of the higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, which confessed to systemic under-reporting and inaction on sexual violence on our campuses. In recent years a number of courageous individuals have come forth to bring attention to the extent and severity of gender based violence on our campuses. It's become clear that universities simply can't be trusted to act on this issue without oversight and enforcement by an external regulator. The government had to act to reduce the incidence of gender based violence in higher education and to establish national standards and requirements for higher education providers to prevent and respond to gender based violence.

In late 2024 this house passed legislation to establish the National Student Ombudsman as an avenue for individuals to escalate complaints against higher education providers on issues like gender based violence. This bill and the companion legislation before the House are the next steps in the establishment and enforcement of a national higher education code to prevent and respond to gender based violence. This code arose after consultation with victim-survivor advocates, students, the higher education sector, the student accommodation sector, gender based violence experts, states and territories and relevant Australian government agencies. It will create, for the first time, meaningful and detailed standards that universities have to meet in order to adequately address gender based violence. These standards will be enforced by a specialist unit in the Department of Education, which will provide guidance, education and advice to support universities and other providers in understanding their legal obligations under the code and will exercise a significant range of powers to monitor, investigate and respond to noncompliance with the code and with the measures in the bill. It will report annually to both houses of parliament. Where universities fail to meet the standards for student safety, the unit will have the power to enforce financial penalties.

This national code therefore complements the National Student Ombudsman by filling an important gap. We can't have a system that allows universities to tolerate harm until someone complains about their actions. This code will finally enforce meaningful standards that universities will have to meet to support victim-survivors and other students. The code requires that university leaders make whole-of-organisation plans for evidence based prevention of gender based violence plans and for education and training of staff and students. This will include consultation with individuals with lived experience of gender based violence. The code will also ensure that, when that violence does occur, both students and staff have access to the very best supports possible—supports which are trauma informed and ensure that students are still able to go on and complete their educational goals.

For far too long student victim-survivors have been left without the support they need for their safety on campus or in exam spaces, and we know that many have dropped out or failed their studies as a result. Some have faced harmful actions from their universities, which have compounded the harm of the primary assault. Victim-survivors will now be protected by a code which will set clear and meaningful standards that universities have to meet. They will have to provide safe environments. They will have to provide timely safety support. They will have to action and resolve reports in a timely manner. They will have to provide necessary academic support and adjustments to victim-survivors, and they will have to train their staff to respond appropriately to disclosures. Very importantly, non-disclosure agreements will be prohibited unless they are specifically are requested by victim-survivors.

These are all things that students should have been able to take for granted for years, but we know that they've been lacking from far too many institutions. It's important that the code specifically addresses safety in student accommodation, including forms of accommodation affiliated with universities but not controlled by them. Universities will be required to investigate formal reports of gender based violence even where they occur at colleges and other forms of on-campus accommodation. There are some complexities to this, but it's important that it's included. This legislation has been developed over some months by experts in the field, and they have assured us that they feel that if it is properly funded and enforced it will function as intended. It will deliver meaningful change for women on our university campuses and for all victims-survivors of gender based violence.

It's particularly important that, at this point, we acknowledge the brave victims-survivors and other advocates who fought for this change for decades and who have made it possible. In 2022, I had the great privilege of meeting in this house with representatives from End Rape on Campus. A key advocacy group founded in 2016 by Sharna Bremner, End Rape on Campus Australia has now shut down. It did the thing that it was aiming to do: it advocated itself out of business. The women of Australia thank it for its work. There are many others who've worked on this issue for many years and whose achievements and contributions should be recognised in this place as we pass this legislation, including Renee Carr and her Fair Agenda; the STOP Campaign, including Camille Schloeffel; Dr Alison Henry; and so many others.

For far too many students—for far too many women—this legislation comes too late. But those of us in this House now commend this government for acting now as it has to prevent further harm to those who come after. I commend this bill to the House.

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