Urgent law reform needed to prevent sexual harassment at work

When we called on the Morrison Government to implement basic recommendations to protect women’s safety in the workplace, we were put on hold.

We’re still on hold two years later.

Nearly two thirds of women who responded to the ACTU ’s Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces survey said they’d experienced sexual harassment at a current or former workplace. We know sexual violence is prevalent and pervasive in our workplaces, but it is also preventable.

The Respect@Work report did the work two years ago: we have the research and we have the solutions. Now we just need a government with the political will to implement all of them.

The remaining recommendations from the report set out clear and sensible legal reforms to make workplaces safe for everyone.

One of the core findings of Respect@Work was that our current laws are ‘simply no longer fit for purpose’ and should require employers to take proactive measures to prevent sexual harassment.

It should not be up to victims and survivors to bear the burden of disclosures and going through reporting mechanisms when incidents of sexual violence could be prevented in the first place.

The main driver of sexual harassment is gender inequity. So we need the recommended changes to our laws made urgently to help create safe gender-equal and inclusive workplaces.

We have joined more than 60 diverse community organisations as the Power2Prevent Coalition and we have called on the Morrison Government to act now to implement the remaining recommendations of the Respect@Work report.

Read our joint statement here.

We are also demanding the legislation of 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave for all workers. Access to paid leave is a real barrier to women being able to escape family and domestic violence. 

The phone is ringing Morrison. When are you going to pick up?