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Content reviewed October 2026.

CalmER · Workplace guides

The positive duty to prevent sexual harassment: what Australian employers must do, and a free self-assessment

For employers and businesses in Australia: what section 47C of the Sex Discrimination Act requires, the seven standards the Australian Human Rights Commission assesses you against, the state and territory rules, and a free self-assessment with an action plan emailed to you.

Last updated 15 October 202614 min read
At a glanceWhat the duty requiresReasonable and proportionateThe seven standardsHow it's enforcedClaims wonState and territory dutiesQueensland prevention planWA mine sitesFree self-assessmentFAQs
At a glance, as at 15 October 2026

Since 13 December 2022, Australian employers and businesses have had to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment and sex discrimination as far as possible. The Australian Human Rights Commission has enforced the duty since 12 December 2023, and it assesses you against seven standards.

WhatWhere things stand
The dutySection 47C of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. It applies to every employer and person conducting a business or undertaking, whatever their size.
What it coversSex discrimination, sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, a hostile workplace on the ground of sex, and victimisation. That includes harassment of your workers by customers and clients.
Who enforces itThe Australian Human Rights Commission. It can inquire, give compliance notices, accept enforceable undertakings and go to court.
The yardstickThe Commission’s Guidelines (August 2023) and their seven standards: leadership, culture, knowledge, risk management, support, reporting and response, and monitoring, evaluation and transparency.
What’s comingAn independent review of the duty must start by 12 December 2026. The ACT’s own duty reaches businesses on 11 April 2027.
Queensland and WA minesQueensland requires a written prevention plan where you’ve identified a risk (since 1 March 2025). WA mine sites must report sexual harassment and gendered violence that is a notifiable or reportable incident to WorkSafe Mines Safety.
Where to startOur free self-assessment checks your measures against all seven standards and emails you an action plan.
Customer story

Thiess, the world’s largest mining services provider, uses Safe Workplace to comply with the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment. Read the Thiess story →

Run the Free Self-Assessment

The law

What the positive duty requires

Section 47C requires every employer and every person conducting a business or undertaking (a PCBU) to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate, as far as possible, five kinds of conduct:

  1. Sex discrimination at work.
  2. Sexual harassment.
  3. Sex-based harassment, meaning harassment on the ground of sex.
  4. Conduct that creates a hostile workplace environment on the ground of sex.
  5. Victimisation of someone who complains about any of these or helps with a complaint.

Whose conduct it covers

The duty covers that conduct by you, your employees or workers, and your agents. It also covers sexual harassment, sex-based harassment and hostile workplace conduct towards your workers by anyone, including customers, clients and visitors. The Commission’s Guidelines note that this second part doesn’t extend to sex discrimination.

Who has the duty

Every employer and every PCBU, whatever their size. The Guidelines list sole traders, partnerships, franchisors, principal contractors and not-for-profits that pay staff. Your duties under work health and safety law still apply alongside it: managing the risk of sexual harassment is a WHS duty too.

The positive duty means acting before anything happens. The Commission doesn’t need a complaint or an incident before it asks what measures you’ve taken.

Run the Free Self-Assessment

The test

What “reasonable and proportionate” depends on

Section 47C(6) lists what’s taken into account:

  • the size, nature and circumstances of your business or undertaking;
  • your resources, financial or otherwise;
  • the practicability and the cost of the measures;
  • any other relevant matter.

The Commission expects every organisation and business to have measures for each of the seven standards, and it assesses compliance across all of them together. Its Guidelines give practical examples for small, medium and large organisations. You won’t necessarily need every example: what you need depends on what’s reasonable and proportionate for you.

The Guidelines carry no legal force of their own. The Commission uses them to assess compliance, and a court may consider whether you followed them.

Run the Free Self-Assessment

In practice

The Commission’s seven standards

From the Commission’s Guidelines for Complying with the Positive Duty (August 2023), with what to keep on record for each.

StandardWhat the Commission expectsWhat to keep on record
1. LeadershipSenior leaders know their obligations and keep up to date. They approve a written prevention and response plan covering all seven standards, review it regularly, show visible commitment and make sure consequences apply whatever someone’s role.The plan, who approved it, and its review dates.
2. CultureA safe, respectful and inclusive culture. Leaders call out disrespectful behaviour, including from customers. Workers can raise concerns through any door, formal or not, and bystanders are encouraged to speak up.How you’ve acted on concerns and what you’ve done to build the culture.
3. KnowledgeA written policy on respectful behaviour and the unlawful conduct, and training for every new and existing worker, with more for leaders, managers and anyone who receives reports.The current policy, and who was trained, on what and when.
4. Risk managementTreat the conduct as an equality risk and a health and safety risk. Identify when, where and how it could happen and who it could affect, including third parties. Put controls in place, consult workers, and review the controls.The risks you found, the controls you chose and your reviews.
5. SupportSupport for workers who experience or witness the conduct, whether or not they report it. Information they can find without asking anyone, internal contacts and outside services such as 1800RESPECT.The support you offer and how workers learn about it.
6. Reporting and responseMore than one way to report, including anonymously, and no need to report internally first. Consistent and timely responses, a clear process for reports about senior leaders, and steps against victimisation.Each report, your response and the outcome.
7. Monitoring, evaluation and transparencyData beyond report numbers, such as surveys, exit interviews, turnover and sick leave. The Guidelines say: “An absence of reports does not mean that relevant unlawful conduct is not happening.” Review your measures and share what you learn.De-identified details of every report, including those not pursued, and what each review changed.

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Enforcement

How the Commission enforces the duty

  • Inquiries. The Commission can start an inquiry if it reasonably suspects you’re not complying, and it doesn’t need your consent. It must tell you the grounds and give you a chance to respond, and it can require information and documents.
  • Findings and compliance notices. If it finds you haven’t complied, it tells you why and can recommend what to do. The President can give a compliance notice setting out what to do or stop doing, with at least 21 days to act. You can ask for it to be reconsidered, or apply to court for a review, within 21 days.
  • Enforceable undertakings. The President can accept a written undertaking from you, and the Commission’s general practice is to publish them.
  • Court. If you don’t comply with a notice, the President can apply to the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court, which can order you to comply.

How the Commission chooses what to pursue

Its Compliance and Enforcement Policy (December 2025) prefers working with employers to get compliance voluntarily, and says cooperation means less need to intervene. It weighs factors such as how serious the issue is, how many people it affects, whether vulnerable workers are involved, and what you’ve done to fix it. Reporting potential non-compliance yourself may count in your favour. In December 2025 the Commission said its current focus was the retail and hospitality industries, and it had four inquiries open.

Claims won

Sexual harassment claims won against Australian employers

Alongside the positive duty, workers can bring their own claims against an employer. The employer is liable for sexual harassment by the people who work for it unless it proves it took all reasonable steps to prevent it. These decisions, current at 15 October 2026, show what employers failed to do and what courts and tribunals ordered.

01 / 05

The Star Entertainment Group

Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, January 2026

What went wrong

A gaming area manager harassed a games dealer during shifts. Staff did the online training while they worked, and the Commission ruled that wasn't a reasonable step. The Star had also given the manager a final warning after upholding a 2016 complaint about him, and there was no evidence of further measures to stop a repeat.

What was ordered

General damages of $90,000 plus interest. The Star shares liability with the manager for the part tied to his conduct at work.

02 / 05

Beiler Constructions

Federal Court, June 2026

What went wrong

A co-worker sexually harassed an apprentice carpenter, the only woman the company had on its Kangaroo Island site. The company didn't try to prove it had taken all reasonable steps to prevent it, and the court held it liable under the Fair Work Act.

What was ordered

The court has still to decide compensation and whether to order penalties.

03 / 05

Grew & Co (August and Pemberton)

Federal Court, October 2023

What went wrong

The sole director of a small jewellery business harassed an employee, then victimised her for complaining. The business had no HR person, so anyone with an issue had to raise it with him.

What was ordered

$140,000 in general damages for the harassment, payable by the business and its director, plus $40,000 from him for the victimisation, other damages and her legal costs.

04 / 05

A listed hotel operator (the decision calls it JKL Limited)

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, December 2016; appeal dismissed 2018

What went wrong

A caretaker the operator engaged as a contractor sexually harassed a hotel worker. The operator gave no evidence of any steps it took to prevent it, and the tribunal said a listed company should at least have an anti-discrimination policy and an education program for its workers.

What was ordered

$313,316.10, payable by the operator and the caretaker together.

05 / 05

Oracle Australia

Full Federal Court, July 2014

What went wrong

A colleague harassed an employee. Oracle's training didn't say clearly that such conduct was unlawful, or that an employer could be liable too, so Oracle couldn't show it had taken all reasonable steps.

What was ordered

On appeal, the award rose from $18,000 to $130,000, payable by Oracle. The court said $18,000 was out of step with community standards.

1 of 5

Before 2014, general damages for sexual harassment (compensation for hurt and distress) usually ran from $12,000 to $20,000. Since the Oracle decision, the Full Federal Court has upheld $120,000 (Hughes v Hill, 2020), and the Industrial Court of Queensland raised an award to $130,000, including aggravated damages (Golding v Sippel and The Laundry Chute, 2021).

Legal costs since October 2024

Since 2 October 2024, if a worker wins a federal harassment or discrimination claim in court, the court must usually order the employer to pay the worker’s legal costs. If the worker loses, they usually won’t have to pay the employer’s.

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States and territories

State and territory positive duties

The federal duty applies in every state and territory. Some have their own duty as well.

WhereWhere things stand
VictoriaIn force since 1 August 2011 (Equal Opportunity Act 2010, section 15). It covers discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission sets five minimum standards.
Northern TerritoryIn force, and enforced since 6 January 2025 (Anti-Discrimination Act 1992, section 18B). It covers discrimination on every protected attribute.
ACTApplies to government bodies since 11 April 2025 and reaches businesses on 11 April 2027 (Discrimination Act 1991, section 75). It covers discrimination, sexual harassment and unlawful vilification.
QueenslandQueensland passed it in 2024, then paused it with no start date. A review of the paused provisions is due to report to the Attorney-General by 31 March 2027. The WHS prevention plan below is in force.
New South WalesNo positive duty. The NSW Law Reform Commission is reviewing the Anti-Discrimination Act and has asked whether NSW should adopt one.

Employing people in the UK too? Our guide to the UK duty to prevent sexual harassment covers the Worker Protection Act and the changes on 30 October 2026.

Queensland

Queensland’s written sexual harassment prevention plan

Since 1 March 2025, a PCBU that has identified a risk of sexual harassment or sex or gender-based harassment at work must prepare a written prevention plan (Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, section 55H). WorkSafe Queensland says you don’t need one where no risk has been identified, for example if you’re a sole trader. The rule doesn’t reach mines covered by Queensland’s two mining safety Acts.

What the plan must include

  • each risk you’ve identified, and the controls in place or planned for it;
  • the matters you considered when choosing those controls;
  • how you consulted your workers;
  • your procedure for reports: how to make one, how you’ll investigate it, that the person can have a representative, how you’ll tell them the result, and that they can also use the WHS issue resolution and dispute processes.

The plan must be written so workers can find and understand it. You must put it into practice, make sure workers know about it, and review it after any report of harassment, when a health and safety representative or committee asks, and otherwise every three years.

WA mine sites

WA mine sites: reporting to WorkSafe Mines Safety

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 and the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022, in force since 31 March 2022, sexual harassment, sexual assault and gendered violence at a mine can be a notifiable or a reportable incident.

  • Notifiable incidents go to WorkSafe Mines Safety immediately. Gendered violence is notifiable if it causes an injury or illness that needs immediate in-patient treatment, an urgent transfer from a remote location, or, in a doctor’s opinion, 10 or more days off normal work.
  • Reportable incidents go to the regulator as soon as possible. WorkSafe WA counts exposure to a psychosocial hazard that could have caused serious harm as reportable.
  • Don’t wait for your investigation. WorkSafe WA says reporting shouldn’t be delayed while a workplace investigation runs, and a police investigation doesn’t remove the duty to report. A first notification can leave out the names of the people involved.
  • Contractors on a mine site must also tell the mine operator as soon as practicable.

WorkSafe WA is clear: “Failing to report a notifiable or reportable incident is an offence.” Thiess uses Safe Workplace to comply with WA mine-site reporting of sexual harassment and gendered violence.

Free tool

Check your organisation against the positive duty

47 questions: six for each of the Commission’s seven standards, and five for Queensland and WA mine sites, each traced to the Commission’s Guidelines or the law. Start with the first three below, then enter your work email to unlock the rest. When you finish, we’ll send you your results and an action plan.

Yes you do thisNo not yetNot reasonable and proportionate for us you've decided it doesn't suit your organisation (record why)
01Leadership

Have your senior leaders (the owner, board or executive team) approved a written plan for preventing and responding to sexual harassment and sex discrimination that covers all seven standards?

AHRC Guidelines, Standard 1, pp.30, 32

Do your senior leaders check how the plan is working and review it at set times, such as once a year and after a significant incident?

AHRC Guidelines, Standard 1, p.32

Do your senior leaders keep up to date with the law on sexual harassment and sex discrimination, including the positive duty, through training they refresh regularly?

AHRC Guidelines, Standard 1, p.31

Unlock the full self-assessment

44 more questions across all seven standards, plus Queensland and WA mine sites. Enter your work email to unlock them here. When you finish, we'll email you your results and an action plan.

We'll use your email to send your results and action plan.

Get your results and action plan

We'll email you a summary of your results, with your self-assessment and action plan attached as a Word document.

We use your answers to send you your results. We also count them in totals across everyone who uses this, without your email.

Or catch it before it becomes a claim

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Last reviewed: 15 October 2026. General information, not legal advice. We review this guide every three months, and sooner when the Commission updates its Guidelines or a state or territory duty changes. Where ours differs from the law or the Guidelines, theirs is correct.

FAQs

Common questions

What is the positive duty?

Section 47C of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 requires employers and persons conducting a business or undertaking to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate, as far as possible, sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, conduct creating a hostile workplace environment on the ground of sex, and related victimisation. It has applied since 13 December 2022.

Who has to comply with the positive duty?

Every employer and every person conducting a business or undertaking, whatever their size. The Commission's Guidelines say that includes sole traders, partnerships, franchisors, principal contractors and not-for-profits that pay staff. What's reasonable and proportionate depends on your size and resources.

When did the Commission start enforcing it?

The duty began on 13 December 2022. The Australian Human Rights Commission's powers to inquire, give compliance notices and accept enforceable undertakings began on 12 December 2023.

What are the seven standards?

The Commission's Guidelines for Complying with the Positive Duty set seven standards: leadership; culture; knowledge; risk management; support; reporting and response; and monitoring, evaluation and transparency. The Commission expects measures for each one and assesses compliance against all seven together.

Does the duty cover harassment by customers and clients?

Yes, for sexual harassment, sex-based harassment and hostile workplace conduct. The duty covers that conduct towards your workers by anyone, including customers, clients and visitors. The third-party part doesn't extend to sex discrimination.

What can the Commission do if we don't comply?

It can start an inquiry if it reasonably suspects you're not complying, without your consent. It can find that you haven't complied and make recommendations, give a compliance notice setting out what to do, accept an enforceable undertaking, and apply to the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court, which can order you to comply.

Do we need a sexual harassment prevention plan in Queensland?

Yes, if you've identified a risk of sexual harassment or sex or gender-based harassment at work in Queensland. Since 1 March 2025, section 55H of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 requires a written prevention plan. It doesn't apply at mines covered by Queensland's two mining safety Acts, and WorkSafe Queensland says a sole trader with no identified risk doesn't need one.

What must WA mine sites report?

A notifiable incident, such as gendered violence that causes an injury needing in-patient treatment or 10 or more days off work, goes to WorkSafe Mines Safety immediately. Exposure to sexual harassment that could have caused serious harm is a reportable incident. WorkSafe WA says reporting shouldn't wait for an internal investigation, and failing to report is an offence.

Do the states and territories have their own positive duty?

Victoria has had one since 1 August 2011, and the Northern Territory's has been enforced since 6 January 2025. The ACT's reaches businesses on 11 April 2027. Queensland passed one in 2024 and has paused it while a review reports. NSW has none, though its Law Reform Commission is reviewing the question. The federal duty applies everywhere.

Is there a free positive duty self-assessment?

Yes. The self-assessment on this page has 47 questions: 42 across the seven standards and five for Queensland and WA mine sites. The first three are open; enter your work email to unlock the rest, and when you finish we'll send your results and an action plan as a Word document.

Sources & further reading

References

General information, not legal advice. It reflects our understanding of the law and of EHRC and Acas guidance as of October 2026, so check legislation.gov.uk and equalityhumanrights.com for the current position.