Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Across this country, students walk through the gates of our universities with a sense of hope—hope for the opportunity to study, hope for knowledge and hope for the freedom necessary to create the context in which you can learn and grow. But, sadly, for far too many, especially women and gender-diverse people, that sense of opportunity is undermined by fear—fear of harassment, fear of violence and fear that, if they do speak out, they will not be believed or supported.

We now know from years of evidence that gender based violence, particularly sexual harassment and sexual violence, continues to occur at alarming, unbelievable and unacceptable rates in Australia's higher education sector. It's happening in lecture halls, laboratories, staff offices and student accommodation; it's happening at university bars and at social functions; and it's happening behind the closed doors of institutions that for too long have failed to adequately respond to this massive problem.

We know that many students and staff simply do not know where to turn. They don't know where to seek support. They don't know how to make a formal complaint. For those who do undertake that learning and navigate the system, their experiences, by report, are too often marked by confusion, delays and disappointment. I recall asking in this place, in estimates, for an answer to a question about whether trauma informed care was available at the end of a phone for a student who rang to report a sexual assault or a sexual violence incident, and the whole concept of trauma informed response capacity wasn't even on the agenda. It's just not good enough.

For years, students have called for change. They've reported their experiences. They've published surveys. They've gone to the media. They've begged for leadership. But what they received instead was silence from those who should have known better: their leaders in their institutions.

For almost a decade under the former coalition government, the crisis that I have just described was placed in the too-hard basket. Universities were left to respond on their own, with no binding national standards, no consistent accountability and no clear consequences for that failure. The result has been devastating, not just for the individuals who've suffered harm but for the trust that Australians place in our higher education institutions, and it's a cost that shouldn't be borne by the generations who are now experiencing university. They deserve better. That is why this government is acting.

Today we are debating the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. This bill is a critical step in addressing gender based violence across our universities and our higher education providers. This particular piece of legislation is part of a broader action plan to address gender based violence in higher education. Happily, that was agreed to by all of the education ministers of the states and territories across this country, through negotiation and in accord with the leadership of Minister Clare, Labor's minister for education, on 23 February 2024.

One of the key pillars of that plan, the establishment of the National Student Ombudsman, has already come into effect, commencing on 1 February this year. The ombudsman provides students with a dedicated and independent body—independent of the university—to escalate complaints, including those relating to gender based violence, when their institutions fail them. That was an important first step in keeping students safe and ensuring that their voices are heard, particularly at a moment when they need someone to listen, to hear them, in a trauma informed way.

This bill follows that action, and it's the next step. It will establish a new standalone regulatory framework designed to reduce the incidence of gender based violence in the higher education sector. It will set the clear expectation that universities and higher education providers must take real action, not just put in draft policies, documents that sit on shelves, complying with a public reveal of care and not followed up by any action. It impels these institutions to prevent violence that is gender based. It compels them to support victims-survivors and to hold perpetrators to account. For the very first time, these expectations will be backed by enforceable standards and national oversight.

At the heart of this legislation is the creation of a new higher education code to prevent and respond to gender based violence, simply referred to as the national code. The code will set out best practice standards that all higher education providers must meet. It will embed prevention at the core of institutional culture, ensuring that the factors driving gender based violence are actually understood, then addressed and continuously acted upon. It will require institutions to deliver evidence based education and training, to conduct gender impact assessments and to develop meaningful gender equality action plans. Crucially, the code will ensure that all responses to gender based violence are trauma informed and victim centred, delivered by staff who have the necessary training and the expertise to respond appropriately and not inflame the wounds that are already being experienced by the reporters.

The message is very clear: the responsibility for change in our university sector to prevent and respond to gender based violence sits at the very top of those institutions. It's not something to palm off to someone down the food chain, to some lower-level person in the organisation, and have the distance of: 'It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my responsibility.' This puts the leaders right in the middle of the response to gender based violence. It demands that they understand what's happening. It demands that they undertake the necessary training to inform themselves of what an authentically trauma based response is and to maintain their awareness of progress with regard to that. Vice-chancellors and chief executives will be personally accountable for their institution's compliance with the national code. The governing bodies of our universities will be required to receive regular reports on incident data and institutional responses to that reality. So the days for the blind spots are over. There is no more plausible deniability for the leaders of these august institutions that see people in a position where their rights have been violated, where the trauma they experience impacts them and where they had a right to believe that they could be safe on their learning journey—or even on their teaching journey.

This legislation also establishes a new specialist unit within the Department of Education to monitor and enforce compliance with the code. I note the contributions of some before me who take issue with this despite declaring bipartisan support, and I just bemoan the fact that the necessary push to create some difference or individual relevance for senators here does not serve the people that this legislation is directed towards. If we're on a unity ticket on this, let the speeches sound like that. Let Australian people have the confidence that there is genuine unity in this place. No cute debating points of difference—if you're on board, be on board, because this sector needs unity after years and years of neglect. This particular unit will be equipped with strong powers to support its role, and it will have enough people to do the job, people who will be serving the public of Australia in doing their job, where there has previously been a blind spot. Quibbling about the appropriateness of that seems entirely inappropriate to me.

The unit will have the authority to investigate concerns, to issue compliance notices, to pursue civil penalties and to provide enforceable undertakings where providers fail to meet their obligations. It'll also support institutions to get this right through clear guidance, education and ongoing advice. And, because accountability demands transparency, the bill enables a secretary of the department to publicly disclose a provider's compliance record. No more hiding in the shadows. This is about a dose of sunlight into a sector that should have fixed its own problems a long, long time ago and not left a trail of people subject to gender based violence in our institutions of higher learning.

Annual reports on the unit operations will be tabled in both houses of parliament. The secretary will also be empowered to share information with other regulatory bodies, ensuring a coordinated response across government. The legislation is not being introduced in isolation. As I said, it forms part of the package alongside the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2025. That consequential bill makes necessary amendments to the Higher Education Support Act 2003, ensuring that compliance with the national code becomes a formal quality and accountability requirement for all approved higher education providers.

Together, this collection of bills sends a very clear message: the era of silence, inaction and self-regulation is over. That was a failed experiment in trust. We're placing our trust in this legislation to change those entrenched, resistant behaviours where asymmetry of power has led to the festering of negative outcomes for young people, particularly young women, in our higher education institutional settings. This government will not accept a system where students are told to endure, to stay quiet or to seek help elsewhere. We will not tolerate a culture where the prestige of the university or the higher education institute is prioritised over the safety of the very students that they are set up to serve. Because every student—every single one of them, in all their glorious diversity—has the right to study, work and live free from violence, free from discrimination, free from fear and free from sexual violence.

The Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill is a vital step forward, but we know that legislation alone, while it leads public debate and strengthens enforcement, is not alone able to bring about the change that we need. It is not a panacea. What we're talking about here today is not just rules and regulations. We're talking about ethical disposition. We're talking about cultural practices. We're talking about change to longstanding practices where the victims were those who were subject to gender based violence. We are talking about leadership and about institutions choosing to listen, to believe and to act. This is about backing survivors who've spoken up—good on you. To every single one of you: thank you for what you've brought to the conversation, and I am so sorry for your lived experience.

That knowledge has come at great personal cost to too many Australians, and we want to make sure that their courage is not in vain. This is about a government that takes responsibility, that takes action and that honours the commitments it gave to the Australian people at the last election.