Vic employers ‘on notice’ for sexual harassment

COMPLAINTS of sexual harassment and discrimination have soared 40 per cent since news of the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke last year.

COMPLAINTS of sexual harassment and discrimination have soared 40 per cent since news of the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke last year, Victoria’s human rights watchdog says.

Speaking at the Time’s Up forum at the Melbourne Arts Centre last night head of the Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission Kristen Hilton said employers were “on notice now”.

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Ms Hilton said VEOHRC had been working with large organisations, including the fire services, to address sexual harassment on a systemic level.

“Our society is very misogynistic and very sexist in lots of ways,” she said.

Ms Hilton said the fire services were incredibly male dominated and instances of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination were often found in “hyper masculine environments”.

“In firefighting … they still don’t have female uniforms and they have to wear the men’s uniform and it’s actually a safety risk,” she said.

“There’s all these blind things that we’re a little bit impervious to that create a pretty sexist power structure which makes those experiences still too common.”

Kristen Hilton, commissioner of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission

Ms Hilton spoke alongside veteran journalist and #MeToo campaigner Tracey Spicer who called out the Australian media’s “protection racket” which she said allowed sexual harassment and abuse to become an accepted part of the industry.

Ms Spicer also called for an inquiry into sexual harassment at all workplaces in Australia and likened some industries’ handling of serial predators to that of the Catholic Church.

“I would like to see some type of independent statutory authority that can look across all industries for patterns in behaviour,” Ms Spicer said.

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“Because otherwise it becomes like the Catholic Church — they get moved on and they offend again.”

Ms Spicer said she had received more than 1700 messages from women who had been sexually harassed, groped or even raped at their workplace since issuing a call-out on Twitter last year.

“The protection racket is gender-based and it’s power-based,” she said.

“Perpetrators are protected and promoted.

“(Victims) are silenced, sidelined and sacked.”

Ms Spicer said she would be enlisting media organisations to help investigate and share victim’s stories of harassment in the media and other industries including hospitality and health.

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