Toxic parliaments and what can be done about them

In recent years, Australia has been rocked by serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment within parliaments. Widespread reports of misconduct, nationwide protests and the #MeToo movement led to a reckoning that could not be ignored. In their new open-access book, Marian Sawer and Maria Maley examine how such scandals have spurred on reform of the parliamentary workplace in four Westminster countries – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

Join us to celebrate the launch of their book, Toxic Parliaments: And What Can Be Done About Them. You will hear from Kate Jenkins AO, Australia's foremost authority on respect and equality in the workplace. In her tenure as Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commissioner, she was responsible for the Respect@Work and Set the Standard reports, which resulted in the first codes of conduct for the Australian Parliament.

Kate and Maria will discuss how institutional features of Westminster parliaments, such as adversarialism and parliamentary privilege, contribute to continued sexism and sexual harassment in the parliamentary workplace and explore possibilities for future, long lasting, institutional change.

Their discussion will be immediately followed by a reception where you will have the opportunity to connect with speakers, policymakers, and fellow participants and delve deeper into the issues raised at the event over a selection of delicious canapés and mocktails.

About the speakers

Kate Jenkins AO is Australia's foremost authority on respect and equality in the workplace and in sport. As Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commissioner she was responsible for the Respect@Work report, introducing the positive duty of employers to prevent sexual harassment, and the Set the Standard report, resulting in the first codes of conduct for the Australian Parliament. She is Chair of the Creative Workplaces Council and also the new Chair of the Australian Sports Commission.

Maria Maley is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Politics and International Relations, The Australian National University, Australia. Maria was awarded the Marian Simms Policy Engagement Award 2022 by the Australian Political Studies Association: ‘Awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in research impact and policy engagement in the discipline of Political Science.’