Promise check: Implement the recommendations of the Respect@Work report in full

At the 2022 election, Labor promised to implement the recommendations of the Respect@Work report in full. Here's how that promise is tracking.

Back view of a hand placed on a shoulder

(Image by ABC Canberra: Michael Black)

In March 2021 thousands of people descended on Parliament House to protest about the prevalence of gender-based violence and sexism in the workplace and beyond.

The protest followed a series of high-profile allegations of misconduct within federal parliament and private schools that brought the issue of women's safety to the fore.

Speaking in parliament after the protest, then opposition leader Anthony Albanese lashed then prime minister Scott Morrison for the government's handling of the allegations and called on the government to take action.

"[The Human Rights Commission] produced a report, Respect@Work, more than a year ago and the government hasn't even bothered to respond to the recommendations," he said.

The Respect@Work report led by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins was commissioned by the former Coalition government to enquire into the "nature and prevalence of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, the drivers of this harassment and measures to address and prevent sexual harassment".

The January 2020 report found workplace sexual harassment in Australia to be "prevalent and pervasive" and warned that "the current legal and regulatory system is simply no longer fit for purpose".

The report made 55 wide-ranging recommendations including amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act; a nationally conducted government-funded survey every four years; and the establishment of the Workplace Sexual Harassment Council.

In April 2021 the Coalition government responded to the report by releasing the "Roadmap for Respect: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces" strategy which it said "sets out the Commonwealth's reform priorities and strategy for implementing those recommendations directed at the Australian Government".

In its election policy platform, Labor pledged to implement the recommendations of the report in full.

"An Albanese Labor government will fully implement all 55 recommendations of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner's groundbreaking Respect@Work Report and legislate to strengthen laws that prevent sexual harassment," the policy document reads.

Assessing the promise

This promise will be fulfilled if all recommendations that are capable of response by the federal government are implemented in Labor's first term of government.

Here's how the promise is tracking:

19 May 2023

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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Promise check: Implement the recommendations of the Respect@Work report in full