Written by Patricia Hill

CW: This story contains mentions of sexual assault and sexual harassment. 

In 2022, the ANU launched the ‘Sexual Violence Prevention Toolkit’ to equip university staff, students, and leaders with information and examples for creating safer spaces on campus.

The toolkit uses a “community-based approach”, identifying five areas within the ANU community where action against sexual violence can be taken:

• Social life
• Academic life
• Organisational life
• Accommodation and residences 
• Community partnerships

Listing key considerations for each element, the toolkit provides a series of reflective questions that leadership may ask to progress within their community.

A spokesperson for the ANU says the toolkit “is intended as a flexible guide rather than a directive”. However, questions have been raised regarding the effectiveness of this guide in addressing sexual and gender-based violence. 

ANU Queer* Officer Jemma Rule describes it as a “welcome step”, however they say it “could do more to support queer students and staff”. Similarly, ANUSA Women’s Officer Jade Poulton describes the toolkit as “a useful piece of work…but at the same time, I wouldn’t call it comprehensive”. 

Rule offers that an intersectional approach would have been more effective, stating “It also fails to centre queer-led and survivor-led solutions to sexual violence and gender-based violence at ANU”.

Poulton asks “How will this be enforced? How will the uni hold itself accountable? Students are still telling us that systems feel broken, support is hard to navigate, and trust in ANU’s processes is low.”

The toolkit is a part of the university’s broader vision of “an ANU free from violence” under the University’s Sexual Violence Prevention Strategy 2019-2026 (SVPS). The strategy launched after the university commissioned a review of the ANU’s current sexual violence policies following the findings of the 2017 Change the Course Report.

The 2017 Change the Course Report ranked the ANU as having the highest rate of sexual harassment amongst Australian universities, and second highest of sexual assault. These findings were mirrored in the March 2022 National Student Safety Survey (NSSS). 

It found that one in five students had been sexually harassed in a university setting, with women being twice as likely as men to experience sexual harassment, and three times more likely to be sexually assaulted.

The 2022 NSSS Report further found that 22.4% of those who had experienced sexual violence in the past year identified as non-binary, the largest proportion of people surveyed. 

Students living on campus were found to be more likely to experience sexual harassment in the past year. The toolkit states that 75% of ANU undergraduate students live either on campus or in the immediate vicinity. 

In light of these reports, the Australian government introduced a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence to parliament in February this year, forming part of the National Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education launched in 2024. 

Federal Minister for Education, Jason Clare, anticipates “the new National Code will give the Student Ombudsman real teeth to hold providers to account and drive long overdue cultural change in universities.”

The ANU has said any updates to the toolkit would be “shaped by the anticipated introduction of the national code to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in higher education”, and that “updates would likely focus on making sure the toolkit is in alignment with national standards.”

For any students seeking support: 

ANU Student Safety and Wellbeing

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 02 6125 2211

ANU Counselling

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 02 6125 2211

ANU Wellbeing and Support Line

Phone: 1300 050 327

Text: 0488 884 170

Lifeline:

Phone: 13 11 14

Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS):

Phone: 6280 0900

1800 RESPECT

Phone: 1800 737 732

Canberra Rape Crisis Centre

Text: 0488 586 517

Headspace Canberra

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 02 6113 5700

Graphics by Shé Chani

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