The federal parliament has passed new laws that implement several of the key recommendations of the Respect@work report, which were ignored by the previous government.

The report from sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins was released in early 2020.

There are significant changes in the new laws, which will make Australian workplaces safer for women:

• They prohibit hostile work environments.
• There is a “positive duty on employers” to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation at work.
• They give the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) powers to monitor and assess compliance with the “positive duty”.
• They allow representative bodies such as unions to initiate actions in the courts on behalf of people who have experienced unlawful discrimination.
• They require public sector agencies to report annually to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on six key indicators.

ACTU President, Michele O’Neil, described the new laws as “a significant step forward for women in work in this country”.

“We congratulate the Albanese government and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on taking action that will make workplaces across the country safer for women,” she said.

“These reforms were ignored by the previous government, who repeatedly failed to act to address the mistreatment of women in workplaces, including their own.”

‘These reforms were ignored by the previous government, who repeatedly failed to act to address the mistreatment of women in workplaces, including their own.’ —  ACTU President, Michele O’Neil