Login
Labor pledges to legislate obligations to keep employees safe
A Labor government will put a legal onus on employers to keep workers safe from discrimination and harassment in the workplace, Anthony Albanese says.
Jerome Doraisamy
In his budget reply speech, delivered on the evening of Thursday, 13 May, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said it is clear that legal frameworks are failing to keep women safe in the workplace.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
“Women must be safe at work. But when one in three Australians has been harassed at work in the past three years, it’s clear the current laws aren’t working,” Mr Albanese said.
“After eight long years of ignoring women, the Morrison Government was finally forced to respond to the Respect@Work report – but only after the Government was plunged into crisis by the Brittany Higgins revelations. Even then, their response has been woefully inadequate – lacking the concrete reform needed to keep women safe at work.
“It shouldn’t take a political crisis for any government to realise that women must be treated with dignity and respect, and that the culture in our workplaces must change.”
To that end, the Opposition Leader proclaimed, Labor – if elected at the next federal election – will legislate an obligation on employers to keep their employees safe from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
“In the same way that employers are obligated to keep their employees safe from accidents at work, employers should be obligated to keep their employees safe from harassment at work. Labor will write that obligation into law,” Mr Albanese submitted.
“We will consult with employers, workers, unions and legal experts to get this right – but in the end, we have one aim: not to sweep this problem under the carpet, but to take the necessary action, recommended by the experts, to change the culture for women.”
Mr Albanese’s pledges followed those of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who – in delivering the federal budget for 2021-22 last Tuesday night – said that sexual harassment is “unacceptable in any context”.
“When it occurs in the workplace, it denies women their dignity, as well as their personal and economic security. The Government, in its response to the Respect@Work report, is strengthening laws, guidance and standards to prevent and address harassment,” he said.
As part of its commitment, the federal government announced the following:
- An additional $9.3 million over four years to support the Respect@Work Council secretariat.
- $5.3 million over three years to build evidence and further develop primary prevention initiatives, with funding being directed to Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) to deliver research projects into sexual harassment.
- $6 million to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) to bolster its efforts in preventing workplace sexual harassment, and amendments to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 to require public sector organisations to report to WGEA on gender equality initiatives.
- $200,000 to working women’s centres to support the continued delivery of free information, advocacy, support and advice on work-related matters including workplace sexual harassment.
