Former political staffer and sexual-assault survivor Brittany Higgins has slammed the Queensland government for delaying action on workplace harassment reforms.
Ms Higgins posted a scathing statement to X and Instagram where she criticised the Crisafulli government for pausing workplace harassment reforms that were designed to strengthen Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act.
“The Queensland State Government has indefinitely paused the ‘positive duty’ workplace sexual harassment reforms that were set to come into effect this year,” she wrote.
“There has been extensive community consultation over years. By pausing this legislation indifferently, without any clear explanation, just further proves the government isn’t taking the concerns of the women in their state seriously.
“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Every day the Crisafulli Government delays taking action, more Queenslanders face risk at work.”
The positive duty reforms would mean that businesses, organisations and government agencies have a legal requirement to prevent harmful conduct rather than respond to problems after they occur.
Positive duty is a feature of anti-discrimination law in Victoria, the ACT, the Northern Territory and at federal level.
The Respect at Work reforms were due to begin in Queensland on July 1 after they were passed by the former Labor government in September 2024.
However, LNP Attorney-General Deb Frecklington announced a pause to the laws on March 14, saying the planned start date did not allow sufficient time for consultation.
The laws were a key recommendation of the Queensland Human Rights Commission’s review into the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, tabled in parliament in September 2022.
According to the review led by human rights commissioner Scott McDougall, positive duty is “an obligation on a person or organisation to take active steps to prevent discrimination and sexual harassment before it happens”.
“These steps are a proactive means to ensure that organisations are working to protect people from discrimination,” he said.
Ms Higgins’ public statement follows a highly publicised defamation trial where Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, that her colleague Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her inside Parliament House on the morning of March 23, 2019.
Lehrmann maintains his innocence and is appealing the decision.
On Tuesday morning, Labor MP Shannon Fentiman slammed the Queensland government for shelving the reforms, telling 4BC’s Peter Fegan “I think this new government does have a women’s problem”.
“They’re not interested in delivering for women, but of course, it’s not just women,” Ms Fentiman said.
“As I said, a whole lot of blokes out there also experience sexual harassment, and it’s just not good enough.
“There’s no excuse.”
https://thewest.com.au/news/brittany-higgins-slams-qld-government-for-pausing-workplace-sexual-harassment-reform-c-18751172
