What is Speaking from Experience?
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Speaking from Experience project invites people who have been sexually harassed at work to have their say about what they think needs to change to make workplaces safer. What we are told will help us create resources that will help workers and employers to make workplaces safer for everyone.
How to have your say
There are two ways you can take part in Speaking from Experience. You can share your ideas by writing a submission or recording an audio submission.
If you are currently experiencing sexual harassment, please seek support by calling 1800RESPECT
The Commission will also hold face-to-face meetings throughout Australia to make sure the voices of marginalised groups are heard. We will do this by partnering with local community organisations. For these meetings, we will focus on speaking with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, young people, culturally and racially marginalised workers, people with disability, LGBTIQ+ workers, and other groups who are more often targeted by perpetrators of workplace sexual harassment.
If you are a community organisation and would like to know more about face-to-face meetings, please email speakingfromexperience@humanrights.gov.au
Why are we running Speaking from Experience?
Workplace sexual harassment is common. In Australia, 1 in 3 people have been sexually harassed at work in the last five years. If you have been sexually harassed at work, we want to hear from you. Your ideas on how to address workplace sexual harassment are important, and they can help us create resources and advice to make workplaces safer. They might also be used to improve policy and practice to address workplace sexual harassment in the future.
Please note that Speaking from Experience is not a project where you can file complaints, and it won’t give any money for compensation. It also won’t offer counsellors or connect you with support services, the police or the courts. If you would like to explore these options, there are support services which can help. If you would like to make a formal complaint about sexual harassment with the Commission, you can do this on our website.
Special thanks to the Board and victim-survivor advocate members of Independent Collective of Survivors (ICOS) who provided their lived expertise to guide the design of the Speaking from Experience project
