Comcare to host national forum on workplace sexual harassment

The Commonwealth will host a two-day national forum on the prevention, management and regulation of workplace sexual harassment. The forum, to be held on 11 and 12 November 2021, will be convened by the Commonwealth work health and safety (WHS) regulator Comcare. A two-day virtual event, the forum will bring together federal, state and territory WHS authorities, professionals and employers, and will serve as part of the government’s plan to implement the ‘Roadmap for Respect: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment in Australia Workplaces’, developed in response to the Respect@Work Report.

Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations Michaelia Cash will deliver the opening address and discuss the theme for the event, Influencing positive chance. The forum will be an important step towards driving cultural change and creating more respectful workplaces. Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commission and Chair of the Respect@Work Council, and Michele O’Neil, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, will also speak at the event.

The first day of the forum is open to a general audience, including WHS professionals and industry groups, to help attendees learn about preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment. The second day of the forum will see WHS representatives from all national, state and territory regulators focus on best practice regulation and supporting businesses and workers to understand their obligations in relation to sexual harassment. Participants can register via an online registration form on the Comcare website.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/agnormark