We engage with government, advocates and sector leaders to improve laws, policies, and systems. We’re also out in our community, building support for gender equity and sparking change from the ground up.
The Working Women’s Centre NSW has kicked off our inaugural campaign called ‘I’m Speaking’, focusing on changing laws and practices that silence women in the workplace and beyond who have experienced sexual harassment and/or violence.
The campaign has a dual focus – the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), and the urgent reform of defamation law.
We have authored a ‘NDA Ethical Guide for Lawyers’, setting out the legal and professional obligations solicitors and barristers throughout Australia have in relation to providing advice on, drafting and negotiations in relation to NDAs.
The brief clearly sets out the elements of criminal law, discrimination law, and professional conduct obligations that lawyers must be mindful of when advising victim-survivors of sexual harassment and/or sexual violence, perpetrators and employers alike.
(September 2025)
We provided a comprehensive submission to the review of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977.
Of particular focus for our submission was ensuring that NSW removes or significantly narrows exceptions for private educational authorities, charities, clubs, and religious bodies to discriminate against teachers, students and employees or service-users on several grounds.
The practical implications of the current exceptions mean that LGBTIQ+ students, teachers and employees throughout the state find themselves expelled, terminated, refused promotions or school positions, and not to mention marginalised and victimised, because the law allows this to happen. Our submission also recommends comprehensive reforms to discrimination law, victimisation and harassment law in NSW to that it better aligns with the federal system, and provides better access to justice.
(May and July 2025)
In May 2025, the NSW Treasurer announced a snap Inquiry into proposed changes to claims for psychological injury under workers’ compensation law.
The status purpose of the reforms was to reduce the number of and narrow the criteria for psychological injury claims. Due to the short time frame between the call for submissions and the first Inquiry held by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, the Bill was referred to a second Inquiry to be conducted by the Public Accountability and Works Committee.
We provided two submissions, endorsed by several CLCs and our peak. The submissions focussed on our concerns about the disproportionate and discriminatory impact that the reforms would have on working women in NSW, given that the majority of psychological injury claims in NSW are made by women (not the least because many of these are attributable to sexual harassment or sexual assault in the workplace).
Some of the key points we raised and that were taken up in recommendations by the Inquiry reports included: opposing the requirement that employees must have a positive determination from a tribunal that sexual harassment has occurred prior to making a claim for psychological injury in the workplace; opposing the Whole Person Impairment (‘WPI’) threshold being raised from 15% to 31%; and pushing for greater onus on employers to prevent psychological injury in the workplace, particularly when it’s cause is sexual harassment or violence.
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