International treaty to end workplace violence and harassment

The Albanese Labor Government is moving to ratify a major international treaty seeking to end violence and harassment in workplaces.

The International Labour Organization’s Violence and Harassment Convention of 2019 (the Convention) has been tabled in Parliament. 

This is an important step towards ratification of the Convention, which would commit Australia to ensuring its laws provide a framework prohibiting all forms of violence and harassment in the workplace, including gender-based violence.

Violence and harassment is a scourge on Australian workplaces, affecting the safety and wellbeing of thousands of workers every year. 

The Convention includes obligations to ensure monitoring and enforcement of national laws and access to dispute resolution mechanisms, privacy and anti-discrimination obligations and protection for people who may experience vulnerabilities.

Ratification of the Convention would also fulfil a key recommendation of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work Report, one of 55 recommendations the Government is committed to implementing.

This Government is committed to taking concrete steps to help end family, domestic and sexual violence and support women’s economic security through the women’s safety agenda.

More than 11 million Australian workers will soon have access to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. 

Once ratified, the Convention will support the full extension of the paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement to all employees in Australia.

This demonstrates our broader commitment to eliminating workplace violence and harassment not just in Australia, but around the world.