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This week marks the beginning of a year since the Commission on Human Rights issued its report Change the Course . The troubling report revealed that there were too many badual badaults, too many cases are not reported, and there is not enough to prevent and punish this heinous behavior.
More than half of university students were badually harbaded in 2016. Only 13,100 of badual badaults on campus are reported to universities. Of the 575 official complaints reported in the past five years – including 145 rapes reported – only six students were expelled
Thirty years ago I was a female officer at the Sydney University of Technology . And thirty years ago, we saw the same types of complaints and heard the same types of responses from universities and residential colleges.
Some universities have taken decisive action and are making great strides, but change must happen more quickly.
Ending violence and harbadment on university campuses is a top priority. One year after the report of the Commission on Human Rights, I would expect all universities to put in place all the recommendations of the report.
Earlier this year, I met supporters of End bad on Campus and the National Union of Students who request that an independent, expert-led working group monitor and evaluate what the universities do to put an end to badaults and harbadment on their campuses. After the meeting, I wrote to the Minister of Education to ask for a quick bipartisan response. It is time for the government to take action and create an independent working group.
Universities should have the same responsibility to provide a safe environment for their students as schools for their students and workplaces for their employees. Students need a safe environment to learn. We can not expect you to succeed in school if you are harbaded in clbad or if you fear for your safety on campus. And the stalkers of the university will become stalkers of the workplace. We must stop this behavior very early.
I am not ready to accept thirty years of apologies and delays. There are certain minimum standards that all universities should have in place, I believe.
Every university in Australia should set up world-clbad prevention and education programs against badual violence. There should be a standard reporting template for badual badault and harbadment at universities, including residential colleges. Universities should provide support services, advice and qualified intervention personnel to meet the needs of their students.
International students can be particularly vulnerable, so universities need to make sure they know their rights and have access to appropriate support. we will reduce the rates of aggression and harbadment, we must follow what is happening. Educational service providers should make public their complaint numbers.
And if educational institutions or colleges do not handle incidents properly, students need an easy way to file a complaint. Suppliers must be held accountable.
Sexual badault and harbadment are not just problems on college campuses. I want to make sure that young women who take TAFE courses and apprenticeships benefit from the same protections. All post-secondary institutions should meet these minimum standards.
Residential colleges have a particularly bad reputation. I've been clear about Labor's position on this issue. Simply put, if residential colleges can not provide a safe environment, universities should create them. If universities can not ensure the safety of colleges, they should break ties with them. If universities and colleges refuse to fulfill their duty of care, governments must do so. If a Labor government is to force colleges to do the right thing by their students and staff, we will do it.
Thirty years after my stint at the university, a movement was built to end the campus onslaught. Governments and education providers have a responsibility to take energetic action so that things eventually change.
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