Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

Or maybe somewhat later. But I also acknowledge your role, Senator Green, in relation to the inquiry. I suspect that, when I look back on my time in the Senate, this will be some of the most important work I think I've done. It's hard to imagine anything more important than protecting people on our university campuses.

I want to quote from the report we delivered, and we didn't say this lightly:

… It is a searing indictment of Australia's university sector and the regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), that dedicated and courageous advocates for university students who have suffered from sexual violence on campus should hold the view that the process of making complaints and how universities and the regulator deal with such complaints is causing great trauma to the victims of sexual violence. In the strongest terms, this committee says that is a shameful state of affairs. It is unacceptable.

On that basis, I am very, very, very pleased to have the opportunity to speak in favour of the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. In doing so, I also would like to acknowledge all the victims-survivors who have suffered the unbelievable trauma they've suffered on campuses and who have then been retraumatised by the way in which the institutions have responded—in some cases in an absolutely callous and cruel way. I acknowledge each and every one of those victims-survivors.

From the bottom of my heart I would also like to pay tribute to the team at End Rape on Campus. I pay tribute to the founder, Sharna Bremner, who gave evidence to the committee. I also pay tribute to Nina Funnell, who also gave evidence to the committee. I pay tribute to their advocacy and I pay tribute—and I'm not sure words are sufficient in this regard—to the support which they provided victim-survivors. During the course of the committee, I think Senator Green, Senator Waters and I obtained an insight, a small insight, into the toll that that took on Sharna and Nina and, indeed, on other advocates in this space. The support which they gave victims-survivors, to use two terms which are used in the national code, was person-centred, which means that it took into account the needs and preferences of the person at the centre of the incident who suffered traumatic experiences, and also trauma-informed, creating that experience of safety and trust and providing empowerment to the victim-survivor.

Perhaps the best way I can pay tribute to both Sharna and Nina is to say that, when I read the code—and I've read the code—I went back and read their evidence as to some of the issues they were facing. I'll quote from Ms Bremner in this regard:

A really common theme among the students we've supported over the last eight-nine years now is, 'My rape was bad, but the way my university responded was worse.' We hear very often the effects of retraumatisation once students have reported. They feel incredibly unsupported, even if they can find where to report in the first place …

When they are reporting, we are still seeing extensive delays in responses by universities … Once that process starts, students are still finding that simple requests for extensions, because they're dealing with trauma, are being denied or that they have to provide material from a psychologist …

If they make it through all of that, if they get to a point where they file a complaint and the university decides to look into it, they're then told that they can't tell anyone they filed a complaint … Then if they somehow manage to still forge ahead and get through all of it they're often told they can't get an outcome to their complaint because of privacy reasons.

Ms Funnell stated:

… we can do simple things to help students stay engaged with their education, such as allowing them to move tutorials so they don't have to sit with the offender—

It's absolutely astonishing that it requires the implementation of a national code through this place to force all universities to take appropriate action—

allowing them to have flexibility in their timetabling and their exams; not making them disclose afresh to every single one of their lecturers and every single one of their tutors—

that is, disclose what happened to them—

not having to produce medical documentation over and over again; and also allowing them to move bedrooms in residences so they don't have to sleep in the room where the rape happened.

That's the evidence we received, and I'm so pleased that, when I went through the national code, it ticked off all of the issues. Every single issue which Ms Bremner and Ms Funnell raised has been dealt with in the code, and that is tremendous.

Lastly, I want to quote from an announcement which End Rape on Campus actually put up on their website:

End Rape on Campus Australia has now permanently closed.

… Almost 9 years to the day since our founding, we've done the thing that all organisations like ours should be aiming to do—we've advocated ourselves out of business. We're incredibly thankful to everyone who has supported us over the years

Well, we're incredibly thankful to you, Sharna and Nina, for all the work which you've done. Can I just say that, while your job is done, our job continues in terms of making sure that this new system works, analysing and scrutinising disclosures which are made under the new system and holding the university sector to continuous account to make sure they're doing the right thing by our students.