00:00 It's found a 10% jump in staff being sexually harassed
00:05 while they're working in tertiary institutions.
00:07 Since 2018, the last time a survey like this was undertaken,
00:10 that percentage has gone up from 19% to 29%,
00:14 so over a quarter of respondents saying that
00:16 they've been subject to sexual harassment
00:18 in some shape or form in their workplace
00:20 at a tertiary institution.
00:22 Now, in many cases, most people don't report,
00:26 and that's something we see, of course,
00:27 with a lot of sexual harassment and sexual assault,
00:29 but disturbingly, of those that did,
00:32 more than half were actually encouraged to drop their complaint.
00:34 They were pressured, potentially, by managers, by senior staff,
00:38 by their own colleagues for the sake of their career
00:41 to drop these complaints, to not make a fuss.
00:44 Now, staff also shared their experiences
00:46 of sexual harassment in the workplace.
00:48 The majority of those incidents did come from co-workers,
00:51 but also over a quarter came from students as well.
00:54 So it seems like there's definitely a problem
00:56 not just facing students in this space,
00:58 which, like you said, we've had a lot of data and research on.
01:01 The federal government has been incredibly critical
01:03 of the sector on that,
01:04 but also some pretty serious problems facing staff as well.
01:07 Claudia, this issue is on the agenda of the federal government now.
01:11 So when should we expect to see some action?
01:14 It looks like next month, mid-November,
01:16 will be the time where we'll see a bit more action on this issue,
01:18 because we know that the federal government
01:20 has really put it on the agenda.
01:22 It's something that they're actually holding a special meeting
01:24 with education ministers from around the country,
01:26 the states and territories, next month,
01:28 to actually discuss this specifically and how to respond.
01:31 They've got an advisory panel working on this at the moment.
01:33 We know that they're considering an independent student ombudsman
01:36 to potentially field complaints from students,
01:38 but we've also seen that students, safety advocates
01:42 and also an independent Senate committee,
01:43 as well as a number of independent crossbenchers as well -
01:47 sorry, a bipartisan Senate committee -
01:49 have all encouraged them to set up a task force
01:52 to actually actively monitor this sector
01:54 and what is being done to stop sexual violence,
01:56 sexual assault and harassment on campus,
01:59 instead of relying on students to come forward.
02:01 So mid-November is when we can expect to see a bit more action on this.
02:04 Thanks, Claudia.
02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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