Universities Australia has also told the federal government a should be extended to vocational training and schools as the sector launches a defence of its independence against a push for greater oversight of student safety.
Universities Australia says the rights of victim-survivors need to be balanced with procedural fairness.Dominic Lorrimer
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare and his state and territory counterparts and a code to respond to campus sexual assault and harassment after a said universities could not be trusted to resolve the issue.
But in a submission responding to the proposal,the universities’ peak body said the government needed to clarify how the new regime would interact with the criminal justice system,as well as principles surrounding procedural and natural justice.
“An effective national code would need to adequately address these complexities and recognise that universities have responsibilities to all members of the university community. This includes those making allegations,victim-survivors and alleged perpetrators,” the submission says.
“The voices and needs of victim-survivors should be prioritised,but not at the cost of ensuring principles of natural justice and procedural fairness are applied to all cases. Any attempt to do so would not survive challenge in the courts.”
But Sharna Bremner,founder of End Rape on Campus Australia,said nobody had ever argued otherwise.
“No one has ever tried to privilege victim-survivors over perpetrators. I don’t know why that’s an argument they feel they need to make,” Bremner said.
According to a University Australia,one in six students said they had been sexually harassed and one in 20 said they had been sexually assaulted since beginning their studies.
University Australia’s submission on the national action plan also says it would be a missed opportunity not to include students in the vocational sector or schools.
End Rape on Campus founder Sharna Bremner has been campaigning for reform of universities’ responses to sexual violence.David Mariuz
It says gender-based violence is not tolerated,and while welcoming solutions to combat the scourge,notes that the “greatest challenge to this approach with students is likely to be any negative ingrained attitudes they bring with them from their pre-university lives”.
In,senators from across the political spectrum found universities were inconsistent and opaque in their handling of sexual assault complaints,re-traumatising young women who were sometimes then unable to continue their education.
Following the release of the action plan last year,Clare said more needed to be done to ensure student and staff safety,“and more needs to be done to support students and staff when the worst happens”.
Federal,state and territory education ministers will meet in late February to consider,which would force greater accountability on providers for student and staff safety,create regular reporting requirements,and sanction providers that do not meet new standards.
A key aspect of the plan is the student ombudsman,which would be empowered to decide whether universities handled student and staff complaints fairly and competently.
Universities Australia said the creation of a watchdog would significantly alter university governance,and its scope would need to be clearly defined,stressing its purpose should be complementary to university measures rather than the primary stop for dispute resolution.
“Otherwise,the[ombudsman] risks becoming one of many options that students who are aggrieved with their university can use,giving no certainty or finality to any of the parties involved,” its submission says.
Bremner,who helped formulate the national action plan,said the concerns were overblown.
“Students don’t want to engage with complaints processes if they don’t have to. The reality is,if universities were going to do the right thing to begin with,we wouldn’t end up in a situation where students feel they have to file an ombudsman complaint,” she said.
The universities’ submission also says if a student or staff member reports an allegation of sexual harm to police and the university,a university investigation undertaken alongside a criminal one could jeopardise the latter.
“This does not mean that universities take no action during this time;however,they do have a legal obligation to provide support to both the alleged victim-survivor and the alleged perpetrator while investigations are under way,” Universities Australia says.
Swinburne University senior lecturer in criminal justice Dr Rachael Burgin,who is also the chief executive of Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy,said most people did not report sexual violence to the police,nor necessarily wanted alleged perpetrators to be expelled.
“They’re after their own safety,” she said,adding solutions could be as simple as allowing alleged victims to attend different classes or follow them online,or move dormitories.
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