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Australia’s politicians and judges will no longer be exempt from rules against sexual harassment at work, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced, as he tried to quell public anger over his conservative government’s handling of a series of sexual abuse scandals.
Speaking to reporters in the Australian capital on Thursday, Morrison said his government would overhaul the country’s sexual discrimination laws to make members of parliament, judges and public servants accountable for harassing colleagues in the workplace.
“Sexual harassment is unacceptable,” Morrison said in Canberra.
“It’s not only immoral and despicable and even criminal, but … it denies Australians, especially women, not just their personal security but their economic security by not being safe at work.”
At present, legislators, judges and public servants are exempt from complaints about workplace gender discrimination, as are some employers of volunteers, because of a legal loophole that means they are technically not the complainant’s employer.
However, they can still face criminal prosecution for sexual assault.
Morrison said the legal change proposed on Thursday was “about getting everyone on as much of a playing field as possible”.
Read more here. (Aljazeera)
Speaking to reporters in the Australian capital on Thursday, Morrison said his government would overhaul the country’s sexual discrimination laws to make members of parliament, judges and public servants accountable for harassing colleagues in the workplace.
“Sexual harassment is unacceptable,” Morrison said in Canberra.
“It’s not only immoral and despicable and even criminal, but … it denies Australians, especially women, not just their personal security but their economic security by not being safe at work.”
At present, legislators, judges and public servants are exempt from complaints about workplace gender discrimination, as are some employers of volunteers, because of a legal loophole that means they are technically not the complainant’s employer.
However, they can still face criminal prosecution for sexual assault.
Morrison said the legal change proposed on Thursday was “about getting everyone on as much of a playing field as possible”.
Read more here. (Aljazeera)