TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
MARK DREYFUS MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
SENATOR JENNY MCALLISTER
SHADOW CABINET SECRETARY
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE LABOR LEADER IN THE SENATE
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMMUNITIES AND THE PREVENTION OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
PORTER SHOWS NO RESPECT FOR RESPECT@WORK
Attorney-General Christian Porter has so little interest in tackling sexual harassment in Australian workplaces that in the year since he received the landmark Respect@Work report he did not meet once with either the Sex Discrimination Commissioner or his own department to discuss it.
When the report was released on 5 March 2020, Mr Porter said:
“The Government is committed to ensuring Australian workplaces are safe and free from sexual harassment. No one should have to suffer sexual harassment at work, or in any other part of their lives.”
Attorney-General Christian Porter, 5 March 2020
More than 12 months later the reality is very different.
SENATOR JENNY MCALLISTER: How many meetings has Mr. Porter had with departmental officers regarding implementation of the Respect@Work report?
SARAH CHIDGEY, DEPUTY SECRETARY, ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT: We've had a meeting with the Assistant Minister. We have not met, as far as I recall with the Attorney, but I will check with other officers that that's the case.
MCALLISTER: Okay. So no meetings at all with Mr. Porter in relation to this report, which the Sex Discrimination Commissioner said was urgent.
MCALLISTER: I wanted to just ask you a few final questions about Respect@Work report. You handed that down, or at least it was tabled on the fifth of March last year. Since that time has the Attorney General met with you to discuss the report?
KATE JENKINS, SEX DISCRIMINATION COMMISSIONER: No.
Only now, in the glare of the media spotlight on its appalling failings in relation to women in the workplace, is the Government scrambling to respond to the report’s 55 recommendations, commencing with its commitment to “prioritise” just nine of them.
Australian women deserve better than a part-time Attorney-General who is all announcement and no delivery.
WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 2021
