Employers may be required to train staff to speak up about workplace sexual harassment with a view to preventing it, or at least intervene earlier, and deal with power imbalances without excluding women, under legislation committed to by the new Labor government.

The amendment, known as a positive duty, to the Sex Discrimination Act stems from Labor’s pre-election commitment to fully implement all 55 recommendations from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s landmark Respect@Work report by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, released in March 2020.