Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to be standing in this place and speaking on such an important piece of legislation as the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill. I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to Minister Clare and to all in the government who have worked so hard to get us to this point today. This legislation means so much to so many people, and it marks just the beginning of more accountability for our universities and more protection for the students who attend them.

Now, in this chamber, we know that the issue of student safety on campus isn't new. This has been a decades-long fight, and there has been an enormous amount of work undertaken by advocates, by senators in this place and by the government to get us here today. For decades, advocates have been raising the alarm about the disgusting behaviours that occur on our university campuses and the substandard reporting and response processes that universities have used to avoid scrutiny. It is in large part thanks to that tireless advocacy, of many women in particular, that the Senate agreed to an inquiry into the current and proposed sexual consent laws in Australia back in 2022.

The inquiry received 79 submissions and held public hearings in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, and an in camera hearing in Brisbane. I was really pleased to be the deputy chair of the committee and to move for the establishment of that inquiry with my parliamentary colleague Senator Larissa Waters. We delivered a consensus report, supported by all members of the committee of all political persuasions, because we recognised that this issue was too important to not deliver recommendations that could be carried out by the government. We also recognised that the lives of these women and the stories they had to share were well above politics.

The committee took the opportunity, in delivering its report, to thank the witnesses, and I want to thank them again today for the effort they made to attend the inquiry and make it the success that it was. We wouldn't be here today if, throughout that inquiry, they hadn't shared their deeply personal experiences and relived their trauma. It's never easy to do that, but the courage they showed, their generosity and the honesty in the evidence they delivered shaped the recommendations that followed, and they have brought long-overdue national attention to these issues. The inquiry touched on so many subjects and topics across Australia, and it was an honour to bring those things to light and to talk about the issues that impacted so many Australians. But the most confronting and urgent issue the committee found was the sexual assault and harassment rates on campuses of students and, most importantly, the universities' responses to those assaults.

For so many younger Australians, university is their first endeavour in the real world, the first step beyond high school and life at home. Many travel from regional towns to a new city, moving into campuses and dorms to pursue their education and begin building their future dreams. They should be safe and they should be free to study, live, work and socialise without fear. But for too many university students this has also been the beginning of a nightmare. One in 20 university students reported being sexually assaulted on campus. One in six reported being sexual harassed. One in two feel like they can't be heard when they make a complaint. These numbers are unacceptable, and we know that they don't capture the full picture. The evidence presented to the inquiry made it clear that these harms are significantly underreported and that students with disabilities, First Nations students, LGBTIQ students and international students are even more vulnerable, with additional barriers to reporting and seeking justice.

Our government has heard what advocates have been saying for years, that this is not good enough, and it has taken action. Last term, the Albanese Labor government created the National Student Ombudsman. It was a proud moment for this parliament and it was a prouder moment for me to stand next to the minister in the Mural Hall with some of the most incredible student advocates who helped to make it happen. Sharna Bremner from the End Rape on Campus is one of those women. Renee Carr from Fair Agenda, Dr Allison Henry, and Camille from the STOP Campaign—all of these women, and many more, fought to make the National Student Ombudsman a reality. It was a national first. With similar powers to a royal commission, it's job is to investigate complaints against universities themselves, to do what advocates had been demanding for years. This was the first step, and this bill is its companion. I thank all of those advocates, all of those victims-survivors and the minister for getting us to this point today.

This bill creates a standalone regulatory framework—one that prioritises safety, strengthens prevention and demands a higher standard of response from higher education providers when gender based violence occurs. It will finally hold institutions, which include student accommodation providers, accountable for their performance. We heard so many times throughout the inquiry that an assault would occur on student accommodation and that a university would wipe its hands of accountability because it wasn't on university property. Well, that ends through this bill today.

Under this bill, the Minister for Education will have the power to establish the code, setting clear standards that all higher education providers must meet. These standards will ensure that places where students study, work, live and socialise are safe, respectful and inclusive. The national code will require providers to actively work to prevent gender based violence, to respond to it effectively when it occurs and to address the underlying drivers that contribute to it. It will also require institutions to have strong governance arrangements in place right across their operations and at every level of their organisation. And, most importantly, this will be a national requirement, so it doesn't matter what university you go to—this will be the law.

Providers will be required to maintain records demonstrating their compliance with the new framework, and the minister will have the power to determine what records must be kept and how they must be maintained. The rules will also outline the types of information that must be reported to the secretary of the department. If a provider becomes non-compliant or is at risk of becoming non-compliant, they must notify the secretary, and they must also update the secretary if any information previously provided becomes inaccurate. In short, this is a model with teeth. If the universities were capable of keeping themselves accountable and responsible on their own, then this bill wouldn't be required, but they have demonstrated for many years and through our Senate inquiry that this legislation is necessary.

This legislation also means that regulatory actions must be necessary and proportionate. They must support transparency and accountability, and the bill allows the secretary to publicly disclose information about a provider's compliance—but only after giving them the chance to respond. The legislation also ensures that the secretary can work collaboratively across the system, sharing information with all of the agencies involved. This is appropriate and necessary. This will include annual reports on implementation of the framework, and its performance will be tabled in parliament so that progress can be publicly tracked. This, again, is so important to the victims-survivors who shared their stories. At one point, witnesses told us that the only way they could get information about how their own assaults were being dealt with by universities was to lodge FOI or RTI documents. That was the only way they were able to access information about their own cases. We need to make sure that the national code is implemented to stop these types of behaviours.

The national code will commence as soon as possible, and compliance will be required of universities from 1 January 2026 and of non-university providers from 2027. This does provide an opportunity for institutions to prepare, while sending a very clear signal that change is coming. The legislation also delivers on recommendation 16 of our Senate inquiry. It called for an independent taskforce with real power to oversee university responses, and we are delivering that accountability today.

We must also remember that culture doesn't shift through laws alone. Our inquiry heard powerful testimony about the role of rape myths in shaping how victims are treated and how cases are prosecuted. We need education, training and cultural change to break down these myths on campus, in courtrooms and across the broader community. Changing the law is vital, but changing culture is just as urgent. That's why the inquiry also called for ongoing data collection through a regular student safety survey to be conducted by universities. I support that call.

If we are taking this issue seriously, then we must measure our progress with transparency and accountability, and we must make sure that those reports are public. That's what this bill will do today. But we also call on the universities to join us in this project. I know that they would want to keep their students safe, and we are acting today to ensure that that is happening.

Finally, before I finish, I do want to acknowledge someone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring all of this work forward, a former staff member of mine and a former student advocate, Hannah Smith. Hannah championed this inquiry from the very beginning. She connected stakeholders, worked through the detail and made sure the voices of survivors and advocates were at the heart of this work. Although Hannah has now left the parliamentary staffing team to pursue another incredible journey, motherhood, I want to thank her for all of her efforts. It is incredible how tenacious some young women can be when they stand shoulder to shoulder with each other. That's exactly what Hannah did with all of the other student advocates. They hopefully will deliver this history-making legislation.

We know that this is not the end of the journey—in fact, we know it is just the beginning—but it is a solid and meaningful start. The bill sets a national standard, one that makes it clear that gender based violence has no place in Australian higher education. Every student has the right to feel safe. Every staff member has the right to be respected. Every institution has a responsibility to make that a reality. I want to say thank you again to the advocates, the survivors, my colleagues and those who never gave up. I remind the Senate that this inquiry report was delivered on a consensus basis, and I hope that this bill gets that same support from all areas of the chamber, because this is one of those times where we should stand up above politics and deliver justice for these victims-survivors.