Submission in response to Issues Paper 49: Justice responses to sexual violence.
This submission is focused specifically on victim-survivor experiences of workplace sexual harassment in Australia. Reflecting Questions 1 and 2 in the Issues Paper, we recognise the Inquiry’s interest in how victim-survivors can be best supported to safely report their experience of sexual violence, including understanding who victim-survivors contact to disclose, whether they had sufficient information available to them to help them decide who to tell and what to do; and what supports they needed at the time, whether they were inadequate and how they could be improved.
Drawing on data from our national survey of victim-survivors of workplace sexual harassment, in Section 1 of this submission we provide a response to these questions specifically in relation to experiences of disclosing and formally reporting, and in Section 2 we present data on responses to disclosures and formal reports of workplace sexual harassment.
In Section 3, our submission focuses specifically on responding to the Issues Paper section on ‘Workplace Laws’, including providing a response to: Question 50: If you are a victim survivor who experienced sexual violence in connection with a workplace, which factors led you to take legal action, or not take legal action, regarding the violence? The Issues Paper also notes that there have been significant reports in recent years focusing on sexual harassment in the context of work and that these have involved a range of previous recommendations.
From the different recommendations listed, in Section 4 of this submission, we have provided responses related to: establishing safe disclosure mechanisms, the positive duty for all employers to take reasonable measures to eliminate sexual harassment, and ensuring awards of damages reflect contemporary understandings of the harms arising from sexual harassment.
In this submission we have not made recommendations specifically, but rather offer this analysis of data from our national study to inform the findings of the Inquiry.
