SpeechEMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (EXTENDED TIME FOR PERSONAL GRIEVANCE FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingIBRAHIM OMER (Labour) on behalf of Marja Lubeck (Labour): I move That the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.It's a pleasure to kick off the third reading of Marja Lubeck's Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill. Marja Lubeck inherited this bill from the Hon Dr Deborah Russell when she moved to be a Minister. I want to begin by acknowledging and thanking both members—Dr Russell and Ms Lubeck—for all the work they have done in bringing this bill into the House. I had the privilege of being a part of the Education and Workforce Committee that considered this bill. We heard from 43 strong submitters of interested groups and individuals.Everyone is entitled to a safe healthy workplace that's free from all forms of harassment and bullying. However it's important that safeguards and processes are in place for those who experience any forms of harassment in the workplace. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Employment Relations Act 2000 to extend the time in which someone can raise a personal grievance for sexual harassment from 90 days to 12 months. It aims to improve the personal grievance process for victims of sexual harassment by allowing them more time to consider what has happened before deciding whether to raise a personal grievance offering a more survivor-centric approach. In the Hon Dr Deborah Russell's words this bill makes only small improvements but it will have large implications.It's important to note that this change would not apply retrospectively—[Interruption]DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Doocey just a little bit quieter please—I'm struggling to hear.IBRAHIM OMER: —and the employers will not be required to amend existing employment agreements thanks to the transitional provision inserted in the bill in the committee stage.At present an employee who has experienced sexual harassment in the workplace has 90 days to raise a personal grievance. This is not very long and it's not reflective of how sexual harassment plays out in the workplace. Victims of sexual harassment often take a prolonged period of time to come to terms with their experience and report it. Delays to reporting can be attributed to embarrassment lack of understanding of what happened self-blame fear of what others will think and shame. Further to this there is an inherent power imbalance in the workplace placing victims in a very vulnerable situation. Zoё Lawton who brought this issue to the Hon Dr Deborah Russell's attention described this imbalance very well stating It's really hard to speak out when the person who is bullying or sexually harassing you is paying your salary and controlling the type of work that you do without of course risking your career." By extending the time to 12 months we are actually giving individuals more time to make such an important decision.During the select committee process we had 43 strong submissions on this bill. Many of the submissions listed individual accounts of workplace sexual harassment and how the 90-day time frame was insufficient for someone to process what had occurred. For example submissions from the Public Service Association Women's Network shared four accounts of workplace sexual harassment. All accounts described a similar situation of older charismatic employees or employers sexually harassing younger women. All four accounts described the initial difficulty of understanding what had occurred and how they felt like they could not make a complaint with one submitter describing the 90-day time limit as a "scary target".There were many other stories detailing similar sentiments from individuals and organisations. The most common defence of sexual harassment is that the employee has not raised the issue with their employer on time. In cases of sexual harassment 90 days may not be enough time to raise a complaint. It's important that employees have time to consider what has occurred and they feel safe to raise it with others. This bill will ensure that they have time to process and to proceed in a manner which best suits them.Finally I wanted to touch on the importance of this bill for minorities. What will this mean for minorities and those who come from migrant and refugee backgrounds? We know that the rates of individuals experiencing workplace sexual harassment is higher for minorities. On top of this people who come from these backgrounds are often told not to speak out against employers or those in positions of power. This is a cultural thing.In summary it's imperative that victims of sexual harassment have time to consider what has occurred and to feel safe to raise it with others. This bill will ensure that they have time to process and to proceed in a manner that suits their families. The current deadline imposes an arbitrary deadline on victims of workplace sexual harassment and makes it less likely that they can formally raise concerns about the behaviour of their colleagues. This bill improves the personal grievance process for victims of sexual harassment by allowing them time to consider what has happened to them before deciding to come forward. This bill will significantly impact workplace cultures of silence towards sexual harassment. We as a House must do whatever we can do to support this strategy and ensure that employees feel safe at their workplace.At the end I want to acknowledge and thank officials from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment; the Office of the Clerk; the Parliamentary Counsel Office; and the members of the Education and Workforce Committee who worked collaboratively and constructively on this bill. Finally and most importantly I want to thank all the submitters who submitted on this bill and those who courageously shared their stories.For about four to five years I was a union organiser and every day when I was out and about visiting workplaces one of the things that I saw was how common sexual harassment is either from colleagues or from people sometimes—often—that people trust with their lives and the people that they trust at their workplace to work with. Often they work in very dark places and how scary it can be for the victims to actually open their mouths about it.Throughout my time as a union organiser I got to know that sexual harassment is quite serious. It's something that a lot of victims keep to their hearts and they suffer in silence. So I'd like to thank Dr Deborah Russell who listened to one of the victims and decided to take on this bill and Marja Lubeck of course for stepping up and taking on the bill once Dr Russell stepped up to be a Minister. The reality is that this is going to make a difference for thousands of victims of sexual harassment by giving them time to prepare psychologically to prepare physically and to step up and to raise the issue if they need to.So this is a good bill. I hope that all political parties across this House come together to support this bill because at the end of the day we are talking about the victims people who often can't speak up for themselves. So this is the right thing to do. I urge every political party to support it and that tonight we pass this bill into law. Thank you Mr Speaker. I commend this bill to the House."