Non-Disclosure Agreements

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:54): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question on the topic of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment and discrimination cases to the Attorney-General, who is, of course, also the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: In many matters regarding workplace sexual harassment and discrimination there is a settlement that involves a non-disclosure agreement preventing workers from speaking about their experience. Experts in the field have suggested that such NDAs are harmful and counterproductive as they silence the victims and do not fix the core issue. Seventy-five per cent of legal professionals have never reached a sexual harassment settlement without strict NDAs and 59 per cent of people who are sexually harassed at work said their harasser had targeted others. My questions to the minister are:

1. Will the government commit to restricting the use of blanket NDAs for sexual harassment and discrimination settlements?

2. Will the minister provide a report on the prevalence of their use in our public sector to this council?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:56): I thank the honourable member for her question. It is an important issue. I have received various representations and have had meetings with advocates for a regime to restrict the use of non-disclosure agreements. It is something we are happy to have a look at. I don't think there's a jurisdiction yet that has legislated or regulated their use. I think Victoria has committed to do so, but I am not aware of another jurisdiction in Australia doing that. As I have told advocates, it is something we are happy to investigate and look at in South Australia.

This is not an easy area of public policy. We want to do things that encourage settlement of resolutions, particularly in a way that the victim survivor wishes it to happen. If that involves early contrition and early admission of acts, that is something we want to encourage. We don't want to do something that has an adverse impact on victim survivors who want a particular outcome, but we certainly don't want something that could lead to a perpetrator not being known to their workplace or a perpetrator not being known to a future workplace and then committing the same acts again. It is something we have committed to have a look at in South Australia.

In relation to the question about figures in the public sector, I am not sure it will be readily available across all elements of the public sector, but I am happy to ask if it is.