A key part of the Respect@Work program to prevent sexual harassment has a “woefully inadequate” budget, especially compared with the $3.8m dedicated to the widely panned “milkshake and taco” site, shadow minister for women Tanya Plibersek says.
A website to help workplaces tackle sexual harassment was the 48th of 55 recommendations in sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins’ landmark report on making workplaces safer.
The tender for that portal says the Human Rights Commission is a “small independent statutory authority with a limited budget”.
“Our indicative budget for the services is $70,000–$120,000,” it says.
The government spent $3.8m on a website to educate schoolchildren about sexual consent using milkshake, taco, and shark analogies. It did not mention sex, assault or rape, was labelled “bizarre” and “confusing”, and was removed in response to the criticism.
Plibersek said the amount budgeted for the Respect@Work website seemed “woefully inadequate, especially when you consider the government spent millions on their weird milkshake and taco ad, only to have it slammed by experts”.
The Respect@Work report languished for more than a year, until former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’ allegations of being raped in Parliament House pushed the issue into the headlines and prompted the government to respond. It recommended, among other things, the “establishment of a collaboration between unions, employers and employer associations to deliver information, education and resources for workers and employers through an online platform.”
“The commission will develop an online platform to provide free, practical information, education and resources that all Australians can access to address workplace sexual harassment,” the tender says.
It will “facilitate implementation” of recommendation 48 to help employers, managers, workers, unions and lawyers understand workplace sexual harassment with online interactive tools, and “choose your own adventure” scenarios.
The government has also been criticised for ignoring key recommendations in Jenkins’ report, such as a positive duty on employers to end sexual harassment, which Jenkins said is necessary to stamp out sexual harassment.
The Australian of the Year, sexual assault survivor Grace Tame, said the failure to implement all the recommendations was part of a “clear pattern of denial, minimisation, ultimately [a] dismissal of women’s issues”.
Higgins said it was “devastating to see a real opportunity for positive change be denied for all the working women in this country”.
At the time Morrison said he “accepted” all of the recommendations. The government’s official response “agreed to [in full, in-principle, or in-part] or noted” all 55 recommendations.
The statement released at the time highlighted that action had already started on developing the Respect@Work website as an “online platform to provide free, practical information and education resources for employers and workers”.
The government has been contacted for comment.
