Sexual Harassment Review recommendations and progress

The Review of Sexual Harassment in Victorian Courts made 20 recommendations to help prevent sexual harassment, improve reporting and support, and increase awareness and accountability.

In response to the Review's recommendations, Court Services Victoria, the Heads of Jurisdiction, Judicial College and Judicial Commission committed to implementing 16 recommendations.

Recommendation 20 required an independent audit of the implementation of the Review recommendations and their effectiveness.

Phase one of the audit found that implementation of 16 of the 20 recommendations were met and the remaining four were partially met.

The following table provides an overview of the audit findings:

Recommendation	Responsibility	Implementation status	Enhancement opportunities
Strong & effective leadership driving successful, long term reform
R1 Champion a healthy positive workplace culture	CSV	Met	Identified
A positive workplace culture
R2 Sexual Harassment Policy	CSV	Met	Identified
R3 Risk Assessment sexual harassment	CSV	Met	Identified
R4 Review of recruitment of staff working with Judicial Officers	CSV	Met	Nil
R5 Appointment of Judicial Officers	Attorney General	Partially met	Identified
R6 Appointment of Senior Counsel	Chief Justice	Met	Nil
Diversity and gender equity
R7 Judicial College Membership	Attorney General	Met	Nil
R8 Equality bench book	Judicial College	Met	Nil
Victim-centred support, reporting and response
R9 Victim-survivor centred response	CSV	Met	Nil
R10 Changes to Judicial Commission Act	Judicial Commission	Met	Nil
Organisational capability and knowledge
R11 Awareness Raising Campaign	CSV	Met	Nil
R12 Targeted training	CSV	Met	Nil
R13 Education program - judicial officers and VCAT members	Judicial College Heads of Jurisdiction	Partially met	Identified
R14 Specific expertise to Human Resources Committee	CSV	Met	Nil
Ensuring integrity and accountability
R15 Amend EO Act and OHS Act	Attorney General	Partially met	Nil
R16 Review EO Act to enhance systemic powers	Attorney General	Met	Nil
R17 Supplementary Guideline for judicial officers and VCAT members	Judicial Commission	Met	Nil
Effective monitoring and evaluation
R18 Annual survey	CSV	Met	Nil
R19 Build metrics into performance management	CSV	Met	Nil
R20 Independent Audit	CSV	Partially met	Nil

For the complete audit report by Ashurst Risk Advisory, see: Independent audit report - Phase One.

This page was last updated: Thursday 29 August 2024 - 7:29am