WA's most senior judge says anyone who has worked in an industry for any length of time and claims to have never encountered sexual harassment is either "lying" or "morally obtuse".
In his address to the Women in Mining and Resources WA summit in Perth, Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Quinlan called out what he described as a willingness to be "blind" to sexual harassment, describing workplace culture as a problem "too important to be left to the culture wars".
The summit is the first gathering of its kind since the release of a scathing review into sexual harassment in the state's FIFO mining industry.
Titled Enough is Enough, the review laid bare the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the sector – revealing stories of women being asked to have sex with supervisors to make safety investigations go away, and one being knocked unconscious in her donga, only to wake and find her clothing around her ankles.
Wilful blindness perpetuated by 'us' and 'them' attitude
The Chief Justice started his address by reflecting on remarks he made at a workshop on sexual harassment last year.
Addressing a group of lawyers, he spoke of his realisation there had been times when he was "too ignorant, wilfully blind or simply afraid" to call out sexual harassment and gendered discrimination he had witnessed in the workplace.
He said some described those comments as an "extraordinary admission" – a reaction he said ran "the real risk of distorting our public conversation and our response to the problem moving forward".
"It is, rather, a perfectly ordinary statement that we should all be able to identify with," Chief Justice Quinlan said.
"There is too often a tendency … to see issues of workplace discrimination as involving a bright line between 'offenders' on one side and everyone else on the other, where 'everyone else' has no responsibility for the creation of the workplace cultures in which we work.
"We so often cling to an us and them mentality, designed to absolve ourselves from responsibility for those workplace cultures."
He quoted a comment in the Enough is Enough report by chair, Liberal MP Libby Mettam, which said the only effective way to address sexual harassment was to "expose it, rail against it, prosecute it and punish it".
"But exposing and removing the 'offenders' is not enough," Chief Justice Quinlan added.
"A positive, safe and enriching workplace is not the same thing as a workplace that is simply free from sexual harassment.
"A workplace that is free from sexual harassment should be the bare minimum, not the end goal."
Understanding 'our own complicity in workplace culture'
The Chief Justice said that was why understanding the "ordinariness of our own failings and our own complicity in poor workplace culture" was essential to achieving change.
"Because cultivating an enriching workplace culture, characterised by trust, respect and inclusion is not simply the responsibility of a few in management, but is the responsibility of the workplace as a whole," he said.
"And while it might feel reassuring to cast ourselves into polarised groups of 'us' and 'them' – where we are always in the right – in the long run, framing the issue in that way will only serve to perpetuate our blindness to the more insidious aspects of sexism in the workplace."
The Chief Justice also pointed out that change was not the responsibility of women's organisations or bodies, but rested with the entire workforce.
He also took aim at people who, when issues are identified in their workplaces, say they have never seen that behaviour happening.
"Anyone who has worked long enough in any kind of industry or profession who says that they have never witnessed or encountered sexism or discrimination in the workplace is either lying or so morally obtuse that they are unable to see what is in front of their own eyes," he said.
"It is a defence mechanism to avoid responsibility for the real problem and to point elsewhere and say, 'Look over there! There is the real problem!'"
In closing his speech, Chief Justice Quinlan also questioned what was being lost by workplaces making some feel unsafe and unwelcome.
"It is difference and diversity of perspective that ultimately makes all of our decision-making better," he said.
"Differences in approach and differences in perspective that come from diversity, not only of gender but in all of its manifestations, make our decision-making more real, more human and more intelligible.
"So consider what we lose when we create work environments that are alienating or hostile, to one group or another.
"We lose those perspectives, we lost that talent, and we lose the opportunity for our own institutions to improve and be strengthened."
Extent of loss may never be known
He said similar thoughts were brought up when Alex Eggerking, one of six women who alleged they had been sexually harassed by former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon, said the experience of working for one of Australia's most powerful judges "destroyed [her] love of the law".
"How many other talented women have we lost to the law? How many have you lost to the mining and resources industry, due to structural inequities, discrimination and harassment?" Chief Justice Quinlan said.
"The extent of that loss, sadly, we may never know."
Inclusive workplaces 'get the best people'
The founder of Women in Mining and Resources WA, Sabina Shugg, said while sexual harassment and bullying were not new, conversations about them presented new opportunities.
"Never waste a good crisis, as the saying goes," she said.
"We have all the tools to turn this situation around, to learn from other sectors, and then in turn share our learnings with others."
Ms Shugg said while positive moves were being made – pointing particularly to Rio Tinto's own review of company culture earlier this year – there was more work to do.
She made a similar point to the Chief Justice, noting the relationship between addressing sexual harassment and bullying, and ongoing skills shortages.
"If our industry has a bad reputation, we are missing out on a large part of the skilled workforce," Ms Shugg said.
"Not just talented women, but people from all cultures, religions, countries and sexualities.
"We need inclusive workplaces to get the best people."
She said leadership was core to addressing the issues.
"Every step of every day, we need to learn to ask and share and talk about it together without fear," she said.
'It has to be called out': Libby Mettam
The opposition MP who chaired the parliamentary inquiry into the FIFO sector, Libby Mettam, said it was "heartening" to hear the Chief Justice's comments.
"It is important that community leaders from across the state and country speak up on this important issue of sexual harassment in the workplace," she said.
Ms Mettam also agreed with Ms Shugg's comments, and echoed the Chief Justice's calls for more people to speak out.
"It's not enough to not be engaged in this inappropriate behaviour," she said.
"It has to be called out, which is why there's so much value in active bystanders, in calling our sexual harassment and even your more serious levels of sexual assault in the workplace."
The WA government on Wednesday formally responded to the Enough is Enough report, accepting all its recommendations directed to the government.
Industrial Relations Minister, Bill Johnston, said some work was already underway, including the introduction of minimum standards for workplace accommodation and funding for a community legal and advocacy centre, among other responses.
