Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says the likelihood of sexual harassment and assault taking place at Parliament House has “really reduced” as a result of her investigation into workplace culture.
Speaking to radio station ABC Melbourne this afternoon,Ms Jenkins said higher standards had been introduced since the report’s recommendations were first made public and remained confident Parliament House was better positioned to handle future instances of misconduct.
“If something happened today,there are now places that people can go to that would be trusted,and the new systems are being put in place as quickly as possible,” she said.
“So I would absolutely have confidence even without it being fully in place,that immediately there are some systems in place that are much more effective than have been in the past.“
Ms Jenkins said at the heart of the issue was that Parliament had not kept pace with human resource systems introduced by large corporations and leading employers.
Asked about today’s public acknowledgment and apology to former federal staffer Brittany Higgins by both sides of the political divide,Ms Jenkins said she was pleased to see “open acceptance” across the board.
“There were apologies,they were sincere,and I know that will mean a lot to the people that were harmed,but I also know that’s an important precondition for them committing to change,” she said.
“For the people that have experienced this their experience has been to be not listened to,not necessarily accepted. And in a personal sense,I think there’s a lot of people that heard that,who have,for the first time,felt like they’re believed and they’re understood.“
Ms Jenkins said she was confident the acknowledgment wasn’t only lip service and would lead to bigger changes nationwide.
“I’m really confident that change will happen but also that it will have a bigger effect for this country and that leaves me very optimistic,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s me being ‘Pollyanna’,because I’ve been in these discussions before and I’ve never seen a response like this before.”