Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022. The bill before the chamber will implement further recommendations from the Respect@Work report. Without a doubt all sides of politics agree that sexual harassment in the workplace is unacceptable. No matter who is in government it is important that we all continue to work together to ensure that we combat sexual harassment in all Australian workplaces.

The former coalition government commissioned the inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace in June 2018. The final Respect@Work report is a very detailed document which made 55 recommendations to the former coalition government. By the time the election was called earlier this year, the former government had implemented or fully funded 42 out of the 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report and was working on the implementation of the remaining recommendations.

The recommendations in the report were directed not just to the Commonwealth government; a number were also directed to the various state governments and to the private sector. In response to the report, when we were in government I worked with the cabinet and released the Roadmap for Respect, which responded to the report and outlined a long-term plan for preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. The roadmap included agreeing to, in full, in principle or in part, or noting all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report and in particular it focused on prevention. The former coalition government provided over $64 million over the four years in real money to support the implementation of the Roadmap for Respect.

In September last year our government legislated many of the recommendations of the Respect@Work report. This bill did many things. The Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Act 2021 expressly prohibited sex based harassment. It made it clearer than it has ever been in Australian law that sex based harassment is unacceptable. We also corrected gaps in the legislation to make sure that all workers are respected. We made it clear in the Sex Discrimination Act that members of parliament, judges and public servants would all be subject to the Sex Discrimination Act. This means that people are protected from sexual harassment regardless of the field in which they work or for whom they work.

The former coalition government also established the Respect@Work Council, which brings together leaders from key government regulators and policymakers responsible for sexual harassment policies and complaints to improve coordination, consistency and clarity—and this is so important—across existing legal and regulatory frameworks. We also increased the length of time that people have to make a complaint. The original time frame was six months, but, based on the recommendations from the report and certainly listening to stakeholder feedback, we lengthened that from six months to 24 months after the incident.

We also made incredibly important changes to the Fair Work Act to make it clear that being a perpetrator of sexual harassment is a valid reason for dismissal. This is and continues to be an essential reform because what it actually did was make it possible for employers to dismiss a worker who sexually harassed another worker without the risk of them bringing an unfair dismissal claim in response. Again, based on the feedback and looking at the Respect@Work report, it was essential that employers were given this ability, an ability they hadn't had, to respond swiftly when their employees' behaviour is unacceptable. As a community it is essential that we draw the line in terms of unacceptable behaviour in workplaces and beyond that has been common for too long.

The bill that we have before us today in the Senate chamber is one that builds on and continues the work that the former coalition government had commenced. It picks up on the particular issues that were given further time to ensure there was in-depth consideration and consultation. I'm pleased to say that, with the work having progressed, we support the principles behind this bill. There is so much in this bill that we support. I welcome the 12-month period between assent and commencement. This will be essential time for businesses, because it is businesses that need to go out there and learn about these new obligations. We are placing new obligations on businesses, and we need them to be able to put in place the new protocols and policies to ensure that they get their responses right and at the same time give them that ability to undertake the required training for their staff.

The role of the Australian Human Rights Commission is also essential. Under this bill, the Australian Human Rights Commission will be responsible for developing guidance materials, and what we need to ensure is that this guidance material is clear, is simple and is easy for businesses to understand. Again, it is the businesses that we are placing these additional obligations on. We need to ensure that the businesses are able to get that guidance in relation to what these new obligations are and how they need to properly discharge them. On that basis, the Human Rights Commission will be developing these guidance materials.

It's important that these obligations apply to all workplaces, but, when you actually look at the explanatory memorandum—and this is noted—a large bank or another large corporation with a human resources department will clearly have more resources at its disposal to ensure it is compliant. You need to then compare this particularly with small businesses—for example, a corner store—that only have a few staff. In terms of the development of the guidance materials, the Human Rights Commission does need to ensure that the guidance materials can't be one size fits all because businesses are not one size fits all. The guidance materials must meet the needs of different types of businesses. They need to reflect the different capacities that businesses will have to understand and discharge their obligations.

The risks that businesses must manage under this act and under the work health and safety framework vary significantly across industries. Again, this needs to be properly taken into account. When you look at the submission made by the Housing Industry Association in relation to this bill, they note it's extremely difficult for a business to control the various actors on a worksite: the various tradies, the subcontractors, the clients, the state based regulators, the union officials, the owners sometimes and others. Similarly, when you look at a business—for example, a pub—a person creating an unsafe working environment for a second person may be an intoxicated patron rather than an employee of the business. In terms of that fundamental role for the Australian Human Rights Commission in developing this explanatory material, I want to see the guidelines addressing in full that range of different businesses and the circumstances in which they may find themselves.

Guidance from the Human Rights Commission must meet the needs of businesses, as I said, because it is the businesses upon which we're placing these obligations. It needs to ensure that it's based on the different types of workplaces that exist across Australia. Every single day you go into a different business; it is a different workplace. We need to ensure that guidance material does address the different types of businesses that are the subject of this bill.

Let me be very clear: there is no place for sexual harassment in Australian society or Australian workplaces. That's why, when we were in government, the former coalition government, we took decisive action on these issues. The bill that we have before us today builds on the leadership of the former coalition government and the work that we did and the legislation that we put in place. Without a doubt we must continue to work as a society to continually improve and to ensure that everybody has an equal opportunity to succeed and that our workplaces are set up in such a way that someone who works hard, regardless of their background, can reach the highest of heights. We should never tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace or anywhere else. I commend the bill to the Senate.