The Australian Sex Discrimination Act will soon apply to politicians. Why hasn’t he done it before?

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On Thursday, Morrison told a news conference that the government intends to amend the Sex Discrimination Act as part of measures to combat sexual harassment and discrimination at work. He said he hopes to pass the new laws by the end of June.

Morrison said sexual harassment is “immoral and contemptuous and even criminal” and “denies Australians, especially women, not only their personal safety but also their economic security by not being safe at work”.

The changes were recommended in a March 2020 report by Australian Commissioner for Sex Discrimination Kate Jenkins. It took the government more than a year to announce changes to the act.
The impetus for updating the law comes with the country’s political culture under control, following a wave of accusations from the last two months of inappropriate sexual behavior in Parliament, including alleged harassment and rape.
In February, a former Liberal Party employee led by Morrison said she was raped in 2019 by a colleague while in the Canberra House of Parliament. Three weeks later, then-Attorney General Christian Porter revealed that he had been accused of raping a woman in the late 1980s, which he strongly denied.
Morrison was heavily criticized for his response to the allegations. On March 15, thousands of women across Australia marched in protest of an end to violence against women and increased protections against sex crimes.

Zali Steggall, an independent federal politician and lawyer, said the proposed changes to the law were a positive step, but called on the government to make the changes quickly.

“The longer the delay, the more the behavior is not taken over, and this is not a retrospective legislation, so it must be adopted as soon as possible,” she said.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at a news conference at the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on April 8.

How the gaps were created

The Australian Sex Discrimination Act was passed in 1984.

In a review of the law for the UNSW Law Journal on its 20th anniversary in 2004, Australian discrimination rights expert Beth Gaze described it as “hesitant and quite ambivalent”.

Gaze told CNN that under the Sex Discrimination Act, politicians and judges are not covered because they do not fall within the areas of employment where the law prohibits discrimination – leaving them out of protection.

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Politicians’ staff is covered by separate employment legislation, said Gaze, which does not include protections against sex discrimination.

Legal experts say the loopholes in the law are likely the result of outdated and poorly worded legislation, rather than an attempt to deliberately protect Australian politicians from allegations of sexual harassment.

Federal politician Steggall said the initial wording of the 1984 Act was outlawed, trying to establish any type of job where discrimination or harassment could take place, rather than issuing a general ban. The wording of the legislation has also led to confusion in gray areas.

The original law “reflected the time it was created,” Dr Jacoba Brasch, chairman of the Australian Law Council, said in a statement. “Australian culture and attitudes have continued, and the SDA needs to be updated to reflect the contemporary expectations of the public,” she said.

Steggall said the shortcomings were first identified during an Australian Senate inquiry in 2008, but it took more than a decade to remedy them, with the blame falling on “all political parties for failing to act”.

What’s in the amendments?

Morrison said on Thursday he would adopt all 55 recommendations made by the commissioner, including a general ban on sex discrimination in the workplace and a national survey every four years to check progress.

The government’s proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act would also clarify employers and employees as to what constitutes gender discrimination and give applicants more time to apply.

But despite Morrison’s June time, Steggall said he has drafted new laws that are ready to be introduced with the resumption of parliament in May.

Her legislation would close the loopholes in the Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Act in all circumstances, she said. The law would also penalize organizations or political parties that help or participate in crime.

Brasch said the success of any legislation introduced by the Morrison government will depend on how the new laws were formulated, to remove any “ambiguity” from the legislation and to ensure that civil servants are “personally responsible” for sexual harassment.

“(This is) the key to making sure that (the problem) is properly addressed and that problematic behavior does not fall into a lack of regulation,” she said.

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