Wednesday, 17 August 2022

 Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:57): (2062) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Industrial Relations. It relates to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission’s three-year-long investigation into Bakers Delight and its sexual harassment policy. The commission was not responding to a complaint; no problem, no single incident or allegation was reported. In short, they went looking for a problem, and like any bureaucracy seeking to justify its existence, unsurprisingly they found one. What did Bakers Delight do to deserve this? It is not just the time, effort and stress inflicted upon a business by investigation, but the reputational damage which might result, all without any incident actually occurring. Yet even this does not seem to be enough for some. Emily Howie, general counsel for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, recently tweeted that ‘we need to boost the regulatory powers given to commissions like ours’. This is terrifying for business, especially for small businesses which do not have the HR, PR and legal departments or budgets of big companies like Bakers Delight. It is yet another example of this government thinking only about big business and big unions.

Those who suffer are entrepreneurs, family businesses, people who believe they are doing the right thing, who would never dream of doing other than supporting their employees, but who face investigation from a government bureaucracy even with no indication of any sexual harassment occurring. I have spoken to small business owners concerned by this, and they want to know if the government understands the consequences of this overreach, so the action I seek is simple. I invite the minister to join me to meet employers who feel that this threat of extended regulation and reputational ruin could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.