Reforms aim to end the sex and sleaze at hospitality venues

The mistreatment of women in the workplace is an issue across many industries but hospitality has some distinctions that make it high risk.

It is a large employer of women, many young and inexperienced, and a key part of its operations involves serving alcohol, a drug often linked to sexual assault.

Their vulnerability has been tolerated by governments for years with few reforms to prevent the sex and sleaze that permeate some hospitality venues – but now the NSW Labor government is to make sexual violence prevention training compulsory for all bar staff working in pubs and clubs across the state.

Sweeping changes to the responsible service of alcohol training – mandatory for anyone in NSW who wants to sell, serve or supply alcohol – will make it clear that hospitality workers all have a role in eliminating sexual harassment and sexual violence.

We are proud to have played a part in highlighting the urgent need for such reform.

A Herald and Good Food investigation by Eryk Bagshaw and Bianca Hrovat last month revealed that one of the city’s most successful providers of hospitality, the Swillhouse Group, promoted a kind of edgy male culture that was redolent of all-boys schools of the past, rather than that of a highly profitable corporation responsibly attuned to the needs of staff and customers alike as required in modern-day workplaces.

Not only were the all-male bar staff at The Baxter Inn promised a bottle of Penfolds Grange for the first to have sex with a customer when Swillhouse opened the bar in 2011 but five former female staff said they were sexually assaulted and harassed by employees across the group, which operates venues including Le Foote in The Rocks, Restaurant Hubert and Caterpillar Club in the CBD.

Further, they also alleged they were encouraged to take drugs at work and the company failed to support them when they reported sexual assaults and harassment.

Swillhouse denied it discriminated against women who raised sexual assault and harassment allegations. However, SafeWork NSW is investigating its operations.

Key stakeholders and advocacy groups will be consulted on the changes to the RSA training handbook – updated recently to deal with concerns about drink spiking.

This followed NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research findings showing NSW Police recorded 220 food or drink spiking incidents between July 2022 and June 2023 – an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year.

A petition last year to state parliament calling for mandatory training for bar and security staff to detect drink spiking and sexual violence collected about 20,000 signatures.

Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said safety, respect and inclusiveness should be the highest priority. “That means taking a zero-tolerance approach to any sexual harassment or violence in our pubs and clubs but this requires a collaborative and co-ordinated effort from everyone,” he said.

Of course, there will always be venues that flout rules but the industry must protect women and embrace reforms that help end such unhospitable hospitality.

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