Queensland's Tough New WHS Laws on Workplace Sexual Harassment
Queensland is stepping up with some of the toughest new rules in Australia to tackle workplace sexual harassment. While managing these psychological health risks has always been part of health and safety laws across the country, Queensland is raising the bar by requiring written prevention plans specifically for sexual harassment.
What’s Changing?
Starting next month, employers in Queensland will need to closely examine their workplaces and consider factors that might increase the risk of sexual harassment, such as remote or isolated work locations and a lack of diversity. The focus is on being proactive—identifying and managing these risks before they lead to issues.
Looking Ahead: Early 2025
By early 2025, employers in Queensland will be required to have a written sexual harassment prevention plan. But it’s not just about ticking a box—these plans need to be:
Clear and easy for everyone to understand.
Accessible to all workers.
Include details on how to make a complaint.
Explain how complaints will be investigated.
Outline the steps that will be taken.
Describe how people will be informed of the results.
This proactive approach is a key recommendation from the 2020 Respect@Work Report, pushing employers to go beyond just hoping nothing happens and to actually plan and prevent harassment from occurring. State Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace put it simply:
It’s no longer enough for employers to just hope sexual harassment won’t happen in their workplace – they need a proactive written plan to prevent it.
Supporting Employers
While Queensland is preparing its guidance materials and possibly a prevention plan template, businesses don’t have to wait to get started. In the meantime, they can use the Victoria Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission’s prevention plan template. However, if you choose to use this template, make sure it meets the specific requirements of Queensland's new laws.
In addition to Queensland’s efforts, SafeWork NSW published its latest Respect at Work Strategy 2023-2027 late last year to help prevent sexual harassment at work. This strategy identifies what causes sexual harassment, why it’s a WHS issue, and outlines key focus areas and a strategic vision for tackling the problem.
SafeWork NSW has identified high-risk worker groups who are more vulnerable to workplace sexual harassment. These groups include:
Women
Younger workers
LGBTQIA+ workers
Workers with disabilities
First Nations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
It also recognises that certain workers may face other forms of discrimination and disadvantage that can combine (intersect) to increase their risk of harm from workplace sexual harassment. This includes workers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) backgrounds, as well as people in insecure work arrangements, such as casual, migrant, and gig economy workers.
SafeWork NSW’s focus industries over the next four years include:
Accommodation and food services (hospitality)
Health care and social assistance
Retail
Tip
Even if you're not in Queensland, all businesses already have a WHS obligation to identify and manage psychosocial risks, including sexual harassment—this is a good prompt to start applying QLD’s approach, as other jurisdictions may soon follow suit.