Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025, which sets up a code to prevent and respond to gender based violence in higher education. Every year, our nation is shaken by violence against women, and a wave of public outcry happens against this gendered violence. Anger and grief erupt across the country, with thousands of people marching in cities and towns across the country, demanding an end to this epidemic of violence against women and urging our leaders to declare a national emergency and to take strong and meaningful action to end gender based violence—because gender based violence is a scourge on society. No workplace or institution is safe from this violence. It is perpetrated on streets, in homes, in workplaces and in online spaces. Universities are not immune or safe either, but they should be. That's why this bill is an important step in achieving change.

This change is only happening because of activists and advocates who have worked so tirelessly for such a long time to see the national code come to fruition. So many courageous victims-survivors have bravely stepped forward and shared their stories to ensure that, one day, others won't have to face the same pain and trauma that they have had to endure. End Rape on Campus, Fair Agenda, the STOP Campaign, the National Union of Students and many others have campaigned across the country for their universities and leaders to do more to make students and staff safe. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for doing this very difficult work but work that needed to be done.

The reports of sexual assault in unis are shocking and horrifying. Research conducted in 2021 found that, on average, 275 students were sexually assaulted on Australian university campuses each week. The National Tertiary Education Union's 2023 survey on sexual harassment, sexism and gender based bias in higher education revealed alarming results as well. It showed that the number of staff who personally experienced sexual harassment had increased from 19 per cent in 2018 to 29 per cent in 2023. Women continue to bear the brunt, with 38 per cent of respondents reporting personal experiences of harassment. The number of staff who were aware of others who had experienced sexual assault increased from 36 per cent in 2018 to 50 per cent in 2023. These are devastating statistics. The traumatic experience of the people behind these numbers can totally upend and ruin lives.

The extent of sexual violence at our higher education institutions across the country is a failure of universities and governments. It has taken far too long to implement change. Too many students have experienced sexual harassment and sexual violence at a university, including online, on campus or in university accommodation. We know that it is women, nonbinary people, people with disability, First Nations people and other marginalised groups who have experienced the brunt of this violence.

The 2021 National Student Safety Survey also found that one in six university students had experienced sexual harassment and that one in 20 had experienced sexual assault in a university context. That is truly horrifying. Of those who experienced sexual violence, only very few made reports and almost half of those who reported an assault to their university felt dissatisfied with the process. The situation is similar for staff, where only a small percentage make complaints.

It is beyond clear that expecting universities to act on their own failed. Too many victims-survivors have faced harmful actions from their universities, compounding the harm of their assault. Too many have been left without support for their safety on campus or in exam spaces and have been left to drop out or fail as a result. The actions of universities in covering up the sexual assaults and harassment, rather than seriously addressing student concerns and keeping students safe, have been reprehensible. Every student has the right to study in a safe environment without fear of being sexually assaulted or harassed. Every student has the right to learn and live in spaces that are respectful, safe and free from violence and discrimination. Every staff member has a right to be safe and free of the fear of harassment and violence while they teach and support students.

This bill has the power to create meaningful change that will make universities safer places for all. Again, I'm so grateful to individuals and organisations who have bravely shone a light on sexual violence, assault and harassment on campus. They have held universities to account for their abject failures, and they have pushed the government to deliver this important legislation. It is because of you all that we are here today voting on this bill, and it is because of you that our universities will become safer places.

The impact of this bill will be that universities must comply with meaningful and detailed standards to prevent gender based violence and sexual violence at universities. The national code will require universities to develop a whole-of-organisation approach to responding to violence and to make their gender based violence prevention plans public. It contains important standards and transparency measures to ensure that that change happens. The code requires universities to ask prospective employees if they have been investigated for an offence of gender based violence and bans the use of non-disclosure agreements in handling reports of gender based violence on campus. It requires high standards of trauma informed response and care where students do experience sexual violence. It is a way of shifting university practices to make them more transparent, to finally start to focus on prevention and to improve outcomes for victims-survivors, who have too often been left unsafe in university spaces.

The Greens are proud to support this bill. We have worked for years with advocates and activists and welcome this step in preventing and tackling sexual violence on campus, something my colleague Senator Waters and I have passionately pushed for for years. We look forward to seeing the code mandated as soon as possible so students don't have to wait any longer for these crucial safety protections.

Gendered violence does not happen in a vacuum; it happens largely against women and is perpetrated by men. Misogyny is actually life and death. We must reckon with that fact. We must go to the heart of tackling inequity and dismantle power imbalances and patriarchy. We must recognise that First Nations women, women of colour, trans women, queer women and disabled women face extra barriers due to lack of appropriate support and services. Most importantly, each and every policy and action must be developed through intersectional feminist and antiracist lenses if we truly want to make sure that no-one is left behind. Otherwise, the untold heartache and sorrow of women being killed and abused will continue.

I will conclude by saying a few words about Senator Duniam's amendment to the motion for the second reading of this bill. The Liberals just last week refused to criticise Pauline Hanson's One Nation for their racism against First Nations people. The Liberals also think Islamophobia does not exist, and here they are again weaponising antisemitism, with the sole purpose of silencing and suppressing criticism of Israel and targeting students and staff who are antigenocide. The People's Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine is shining a light on Palestine repression at Australian universities, and the methods and tools being used to restrict and crack down on academic freedom and freedom of speech are just horrific. Good on the brave students and staff for speaking up during this inquiry, despite a culture of fear created by the suppression and punishment that they have been subjected to.

The Universities Accord report itself highlighted instances of racism at higher education providers against First Nations staff and students, and a much broader study into all forms of racism across the university sector is being conducted by the Race Discrimination Commissioner. We have a National Anti-Racism Framework waiting to be funded and implemented. But the Liberals and also Labor have created this weird hierarchy of racism which helps no-one. Racism is racism. It needs to be tackled in its horrific entirety and grounded in the reality that, to tackle systemic racism, we must confront our bloody colonial history and the ongoing violence against First Nations people. So, no, the Greens will not be supporting the Liberals' thinly veiled attempt to shut down anyone who speaks up for justice for Palestine.