The Respect@Work bill passed Australian parliament on Monday, meaning all the recommendations put forth by National Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins in the Respect@Work report are now legislated.
The historic new laws will place a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, as far as possible.
With this new requirement, the legislation will strengthen the Australian Human Rights Commission with new functions to assess and enforce compliance, including the capacity to give compliance notices to employers who are not meeting their obligations.
Jenkins said: “The Respect@Work Bill is a major achievement that fundamentally changes how Australia protects people from workplace sexual harassment.”
“It changes our settings from being reactive to also being proactive, so employers are required to take meaningful action to prevent harassment from occurring. It shifts the emphasis from a complaints-based model to one where employers must take action, and continuously assess and evaluate whether they are meeting the requirements of the duty.”
Conduct that results in a hostile workplace environment on the basis of sex is now expressly prohibited, and the laws will ensure commonwealth public sector organisations are also required to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on its gender equality indicators.
At a press conference announcing the new legislation, attorney general Mark Dreyfus thanked the parliament and community action that got this important legislation passed. He also thanked Kate Jenkins specifically for her work and all those who “assisted her in her inquiry who came forward to tell her about their shocking experiences in Australian workplaces.”
“Sexual harassment is not inevitable. It is preventable,” said Dreyfus. “This is historic legislation that has passed through the Australian parliament today. It significantly progresses gender equality in Australian workplaces. It ensures that women are able to earn a living in safe and respectful workplaces.”
Prime minister Anthony Albanese also commented saying that Respect@Work was one of the key commitments that Labor had made during the federal election campaign, and he’s pleased the legislation has now passed.
“My government believes in gender equality,” said Albanese. “And with this legislation, combined with the cheaper childcare legislation, the commitment to paid parental leave expansion, the changes to the Fair Work Act that will put gender equality as one of the objectives of the Act, the changes that will flow from, particularly, lower-paid feminised industries in terms of lifting their wages – this is an important reform.”
The Government has committed to implementing all 55 recommendations from Jenkins’ Respect@Work report.
Earlier this month, the Commission also launched a website with the Respect@Work Council to provide comprehensive information and resources for businesses to fulfil their obligations to create respectful workplaces, free from harassment.
As for the implementation of the new legislation, there’ll be a 12-month transition period before it is enforced but Jenkins said she “urges all workplaces to implement change now, so that people may enjoy safer workplaces, free from sexual harassment, sooner.”
“These important reforms are timely and should be considered by state and territory governments to achieve greater harmonisation of sexual harassment legislation as part of any upcoming legislative reviews.”