Australian politicians are no longer to be exempt from rules against sexual harassment at work, the government announced yesterday, as it tries to quell public anger over parliamentary sex abuse scandals.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that his government would overhaul the country’s sexual discrimination laws to make members of parliament, judges and public servants accountable for harassing colleagues in the workplace.
“It’s about getting everyone on as much of a playing field as possible,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Public servants, lawmakers and judges are currently exempt from anti-harassment rules that apply to other Australian workplaces, although they can still face criminal prosecution for sexual assault.
The move was in response to a “Respect@Work” report — released more than one year ago following a national inquiry into sexual harassment — and comes just weeks after sexual abuse allegations rocked Australia’s halls of power.
A young ex-staffer in Morrison’s Liberal Party recently went public with allegations that she was raped by a colleague in parliament in 2019, while a senior minister was forced to deny raping a 16-year-old when they were both students during the 1980s.
Critics said the cases, and the government’s apparent initial reluctance to act, have highlighted a “toxic” and sexist culture in Australia’s parliament.
Australian Attorney-General Michaelia Cash — who last week replaced the rape-accused minister in the government’s top legal role — said that other proposed legislative changes would include classifying sexual harassment at work as “serious misconduct” and making it valid grounds for dismissal.
The government also plans to extend the period in which a victim can report an incident from six months to two years, she added.
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