Introduction

Introduction

Sexual harassment is still a significant problem across the Victorian public sector. This report tells duty holders under the Gender Equality Act 2020 what they must do to address it.

The Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector (the Commission) is the only regulator requiring Victorian public sector organisations to regularly report on sexual harassment.

Using our unique dataset, we looked at data from 2021 and 2023 workplace gender audits. This report shows what we found and gives you practical steps to take. It builds on our 2021 Baseline Report and helps duty holders meet their legal requirements.

This report is for workplace leaders, HR staff and people working towards gender equality. It focuses on:

• what our data shows about sexual harassment in public sector workplaces
• where the biggest risks are and why
• what effective action looks like in workplaces
• how new laws should drive workplace responses.

We used data from duty holders and research from across Australia. The main goal is to help you take action. We show you practical steps you can take to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in public sector workplaces.

Our current data has limits. The majority of the data in this report refers to women and men. Not all duty holders provide data on people who self describe their gender, so often the sample size is too small to analyse meaningfully. Where we have good data, we include findings for employees of self-described gender.

Use this report to check your progress, improve your response, and make safer workplaces for everyone.

What is workplace sexual harassment?

The law defines sexual harassment in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

A person sexually harasses another person if they:

• make unwelcome sexual advances or ask for sexual favours, or
• do other unwelcome sexual behaviour when a reasonable person would expect the harassed person might feel offended, humiliated or scared.

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (2022:22), workplace sexual harassment includes:

• sexual comments or jokes
• personal questions about someone’s private life or how they look
• repeated unwanted invitations to go on dates
• pressure for sex
• inappropriate staring
• unwelcome touching, cornering or hugging
• sexual messages using technology
• actual or attempted rape or sexual assault.

Who is at risk?

Even though people know more about this issue and laws have changed, sexual harassment is still a common experience for many Australian workers, especially women.

One in three Australian workers experienced sexual harassment in the past five years (AHRC 2022b:13). But fewer than one in five made a formal complaint, and one in four of those who did, said nothing happened to the person who harassed them (AHRC 2022b:14).

While people of all genders may experience sexual harassment, most people who do the harassing are men and most victim survivors are women. The Australian Human Rights Commission found that in 2022, 77% of people sexually harassed at work were harassed by a man (AHRC 2022b:58)

As well as gender inequality, the Speaking from Experience report (AHRC 2025a) highlights that intersecting forms of disadvantage increase the risk and severity of workplace sexual harassment. These can include being a First Nations person, visa status, race, migration background, gender identity, disability, age and economic security (see also AHRC 2020; Cho and Segrave 2023; CGEPS 2023; Robinson et al. 2024). Workers in insecure employment or with limited access to social or legal support are often specifically targeted by harassers who exploit these vulnerabilities (AHRC 2025a).

Other power differences in the workplace can also be exploited, and people at all levels of seniority can be targeted. Alongside junior staff, women supervisors also commonly experience sexual harassment (AHRC 2020:140). Perpetrators of harassment often target colleagues working at the same level.

The costs of sexual harassment

Workplace sexual harassment causes serious harm. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s 5^th national survey on sexual harassment found that, of those who had experienced workplace sexual harassment:

• 67% experienced negative mental or emotional health
• 57% experienced drops to their self-esteem and confidence
• 62% had reduced job satisfaction
• 53% had reduced organisational commitment (AHRC 2022b:98).

Sexual harassment also affects people who see it happen, victim survivors’ families and friends, and even the people who do the harassing (AHRC 2020:275–280). Research shows that sexual harassment hurts all women by undermining their authority in the workplace and reinforcing harmful stereotypes about women (MacKinnon, 1979).

For employers and the economy, the cost is huge. In 2018, Deloitte found that sexual harassment cost Australia $3.5 billion each year. These costs included lost productivity, reduced wellbeing, and impacts on health and justice systems. To avoid these costs, spending money on prevention makes sense (AHRC 2020:6).

Changes to laws and policies

Australia has done more to prevent and address workplace sexual harassment in recent years. This started with the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work report in 2020, which made 55 recommendations. The federal government said it would implement all of them.

One of the biggest changes was creating a ‘positive duty’ under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. This legal requirement means employers must actively prevent sexual harassment. The focus changed from just responding to complaints to creating safe workplace environments.

Other changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 include:

• a new ban on hostile workplace environments based on sex
• a lower standard for sex-based harassment (now ‘demeaning’ instead of ‘seriously demeaning’)
• more powers for the Australian Human Rights Commission
• standardised complaint timeframes (AHRC 2022).

The Fair Work Act 2009 was also updated to:

• define ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘sexually harassed at work’
• empowering the Fair Work Commission to make orders to stop sexual harassment
• clarify that sexual harassment can be a valid reason for dismissal (Smith 2023:16–17).