SYDNEY, Australia – After two months of sexual harassment and assault scandals, including a claim of rape in the House of Commons, the Conservative government of Australia on Thursday agreed to adopt a series of recommendations aimed at preventing sexual abuse and accountability for misconduct in the workplace.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison reveals what he calls a ‘roadmap for respect’ in response to the recommendations of the country’s commissioner for sex discrimination that will improve the culture of the workplace in the public and private sectors.
His plan includes more training in schools and the promise of new legislation to end exemptions for judges and MPs from the country’s sex discrimination law. It will also allow victims to file complaints up to two years after an attack.
The announcement of mr. Morrison is his most comprehensive attempt to date to tackle a problem that has existed in Australian politics for years, with women being abused, humiliated or sexually harassed, usually without use.
A federal review focusing on Parliament’s workplace culture has also just begun and this could generate additional calls for reform as the demand for demonstrable change has intensified.
Critics have questioned whether the government’s last step would be enough. Noted that the initial report was published in March 2020, with many of the findings that Mr. Morrison’s government has so far overlooked, many women have demanded more details and a clear timeline.
“It will take more than just words from this government to correct the impression that they do not care about these issues,” said Louise Chappell, a professor of political science at the University of New South Wales. “It’s not going to go away.”
Emma Husar, a former Labor MP from the opposition party, said the government was still delivering only ‘the minimum’.
Polls have shown that Australian women in particular have lost confidence in the government since a former Liberal staff member said in February that she had been raped in a ministerial office in 2019. A flood of accusations against MPs and employees at every level followed with marches for justice that lured tens of thousands of women to the streets of Australian cities.
Mr. Morrison appeared Thursday to leave a wrapping space for himself and his Liberal Party. He said his government had accepted all 55 proposals set out in the report “in whole, in part or in principle”, which led its critics to question what measures would be put in place at the federal level, passed on to states or which is less than lip service.
Many of the recommendations, including the creation of a national research agenda for sexual harassment and training in a respectful relationship, can take years to develop. And some of the changes announced on Thursday will simply bring Australia into line with other developed democracies – such as Britain, Canada and the United States – that have enacted legislation over the past few years, which has tightened standards for legislators.
Professor Chappell said that the exemption for members of parliament, for example – an effect in the law on sex discrimination that is also given to religious organizations – seems particularly outdated. She welcomes the Prime Minister’s promise to ensure that legislators and the legal profession will no longer receive special treatment.
“With all the cases we have seen so far, they have been able to act with impunity because they are not accountable in the same way that people outside parliament are,” she said. “There has been pressure for many years to change that.”
But the complaint process is still not clear. When Mr. Morrison was asked what the consequences would be for a charge of sexual harassment against a lawmaker, he said no decision has been made yet.
“There are still many problems with which we are going to draft this legislation,” he said.
Professor Chappell said it looked like Mr. Morrison is still struggling with how far he should go with policy and how to talk about the issue. At his news conference on Thursday, he stressed that all Australians should take responsibility for changing the culture of contempt in the workplace, but not “in a way that pits Australians against each other.”
“What does he mean here?” Ask Professor Chappell. ‘That women are too strict? Is it possible to address sexual harassment without some confrontation? I do not think so. ”