Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Waters for her question. At the commencement, I acknowledge that my colleague Senator Cash and the government have been pursuing action across a range of areas in implementing recommendations from the Respect@Work report—a very valuable and important piece of work, undertaken by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, in terms of advancing equality and opportunity across Australian workplaces. The government's comprehensive response has been released.

Senator Waters's question relates specifically to recommendation 17, the positive duty recommendation. The government has been clear: we believe this requires further consultation to assess how such a duty would operate effectively alongside existing duties under various work health and safety laws and, indeed, under the Sex Discrimination Act, including to ensure that additional complexity is not created for those seeking to use such protections. We are working through those consultation processes to make sure that any changes that are put in place operate as intended and do not result in unnecessary duplication, confusion or uncertainty for either employers or employees.

The vicarious liability provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act and model work health and safety laws already place, I'm advised, a positive duty on employers to protect workers from health and safety risks, including psychosocial risks such as sexual harassment, so far as that is reasonably practicable. Employers must therefore already take reasonable and preventative steps such as implementing appropriate policies and providing—