Harmful behaviours disclosure

We acknowledge that disclosing a harmful behaviour can be a difficult decision, and that a person must feel safe and confident that any disclosure will be treated respectfully and appropriately.

A disclosure of harmful behaviour, using the ANU Disclosure form, is not a formal report or complaint but is a mechanism for the ANU to provide you with information and support through the Staff Respect Consultant. The ANU provides an identified or de-identified disclosure option.

Lodging a disclosure of harmful behaviour does not prevent you from also looking at your reporting options both within the ANU or externally. The Staff Respect Consultant can provide you with information on these options.

Please know, you can also receive workplace support through the College/Divisional Human Resources Practitioners who provide a range of devolved operational and consulting support services to, and provide the first point of contact with, their local staff within the parameters of University delegations, HR policy, procedures and guidelines set by the Chief People Officer. They also contribute to HR policy development.   

Although we have used the term ‘disclosure/disclose’, we are not referring to a statutory ‘disclosure’. For more information about the University’s Public Interest Disclosure framework visit Policy: Public interest disclosure 

As an ANU staff member, completing a disclosure of harmful behaviour, allows the Staff Respect Consultant to reach out to you to provided information and coordinated personalised support around your safety, wellbeing, position at ANU and with your consent link you to appropriate and specialist ANU and community services. 

Making a disclosure also assists in building a safe and trusting environment for all staff and students at the University. 

You are in control of how much information you provide in the disclosure form about your experience, your identity and the identity of the alleged perpetrator (if known).

You will be asked to provide some information i.e. the location of the incident and the type of behaviour you have experienced or witness. You can still do this without identifying yourself or others involved. This information assists us to identify areas that may require broader education, prevention and safety interventions.

De-identified and aggregated general data is used for reporting purposes. If you don't want to be identified, you can create a disposable email address exclusively for the disclosure by following the instructions offered by Google or another email provider.

You can exit the disclosure form at any time prior to submission.

ANU Student Safety and Wellbeing Case Managers monitor the disclosures daily, all staff member disclosures will then be sent directly to the Staff Respect Consultant. Case Managers are professional staff with expertise in trauma informed and person-centred processes and the provision of care and support to people that have experienced sexual misconduct. Interaction with a Case Manager are confidential* alongside the Staff Respect Consultant.

Within 72 hours of the ANU receiving an online disclosure by an ANU staff member, the Staff Respect Consultant will be in contact through the email provided in the disclosure to provide general information on the support available at the University and through community services. 

The Staff Respect Consultant will offer to meet with the person that lodged the disclosure in person, by phone or Zoom/Teams to discuss safety plans and personalised support that can be provided through the ANU and in community. The Staff Respect Consultant can also discuss options for reporting to the ANU or external bodies such as the Police. 

The Staff Respect Consultant can provide space to discuss your concerns and work with you in order to create a safe workplace where you can thrive.

For time-critical or emergency situations, please call 000 or present to your nearest emergency ward. For afterhours support, you can contact one of the following services:

• 1800 Respect 1800 737 732 (24/7);
• Canberra Rape Crisis (02) 6247 2525 (7am - 11pm)
• Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7);
• Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 476 (24/7)
• ANU Employee Assistance Program is available 24 hours on 1800 808 374.

The information you provide during the disclosure will be kept confidential and any identifying information will not be shared with anyone without your consent*. Other than the Staff Respect Consultant, the direct managers of the Staff Respect Consultant also have access for the purpose of providing information, support and debriefing to the Consultant, in order to provide the best practice and processes for each staff member. 

The Staff Respect Consultant can explain how your information is managed and discuss consent to release relevant information for the purpose of safe making (a variety of measures to assist minimise potential harm to any person and to address safety concerns), referral to support services and/or facilitating academic or professional accommodations. 

De-identified and aggregated data is used for reporting purposes. The reports are prepared by the Staff Respect Consultant to ensure your privacy and confidentiality is maintained. 

* Disclosures are kept strictly confidential except in exceptional and limited circumstances, for example, where there is an immediate and serious risk to yourself or others or if the person impacted by sexual misconduct is under 18 years old. In such circumstances, ANU will be required to notify third parties, such as the Police or child protection authorities as the circumstances require. 

Means that ANU will review the allegation and decide whether to proceed with an enquiry under a particular Policy or the Discipline Rule.  

Reports against a staff member are lodged through your local Human Resources representative and follow the Procedure: Managing misconduct, serious misconduct and suspension.

Depending on the harmful behaviour experienced, you can contact external agencies including the Police and Human Rights Commission to lodge a complaint.  

Reporting to Police means giving as much information as possible to begin a police investigation. You can meet with the police to talk about the reporting process before you decide whether you want to make an official report. There is no time limit on reporting: you can make a report no matter how long ago the incident took place.  

The Staff Respect Consultant can provide you with further information on both internal external reporting.

The ACT Discrimination Act 1991 protects people against discrimination or harassment on the basis of attributes including sex; pregnancy; marital or relationship status; family responsibility; breastfeeding; race, colour, ethnic or ethno-religious background, descent or national identity; age; sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender identity or intersex status; disability; union affiliation, political conviction, religious belief or any other characteristic specified. 

If you or someone you know have experienced harassment, racism, discrimination, violence or threats of violence, including sexual harm, there is support in place at the ANU. The University offers two pathways for anyone who has been impacted by harmful behaviours. Responses are managed by staff who understand trauma informed and person-centred approaches, and who can provide you with support and information to assist with your decision making while supporting your wellbeing.

Sexual harassment is an unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or any other unwelcome sexual conduct in circumstances in which the person who is exposed to the conduct reasonably feels offended, humiliated or intimidated. Sexual harassment can include:

• Displays of sexually graphic materials including posters, cartoons or messages left on noticeboards, desks or common areas
• Repeated invitations to develop a closer or intimate relationship after prior refusal
• Unwelcome and uncalled for remarks or insinuations about a person's sex or private life
• Comments of a sexually suggestive nature about a person's appearance or body
• Sexually offensive phone calls
• Offensive emails and text messages of a sexual nature
• Unwanted sexual attention using internet, social networking sites and mobile phones
• Revenge porn
• Sexual propositions
• Indecent exposure
• Pressuring a student or staff member to engage in sexual behaviour for some educational or employment benefit, or

Making a real or perceived threat that rejecting sexual behaviour will carry a negative consequence for the student in education, accommodation, or University programme or activity.

The University will use the definitions of consent, sexual harassment and sexual assault under the Policy: Sexual misconduct when managing formal reports.  

Sexual assault is any unwanted sexual behaviour you have not consented to. Sexual assault is never the fault of the victim and can take many forms ranging from:

• unwanted touching 
• exposure to sexual acts 
• sexual images taken without consent
• any form of sexual penetration.

Sexual assault is a crime in all Australian jurisdictions.

Consent is when two or more people explicitly agree to participate in a sexual act including intercourse, kissing and touching. Consent to sexual acts is freely given.

You are unable to consent if you are:

• asleep, unconscious or significantly affected by drugs or alcohol
• unable to understand what you are consenting to
• pressured or coerced to have sex because of threats, force, fear, or harm to yourself or someone else
• under the age of consent which is 16 years in the ACT.

Consent can be withdrawn at any point, including after a sexual activity has begun.

Being accused of perpetuating sexual misconduct is a serious matter and can be a traumatic experience. ANU's duty of care applies to all parties named in a disclosure or Report with the University committed to following due process and natural justice in the interests of all parties. 

If you have been accused of sexual misconduct you can discuss support options with the Staff Respect Consultant by emailing staffrespect@anu.edu.au or by calling 02 6125 6763. 

You also have access to the following services to support you during this time and provide you with information to assist with your decision making: 

• The ANU Advisor to Staff provides free, confidential and professional counselling and advice to staff on-campus in dealing with work-related or personal issues. 
• Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers are qualified, experienced and independent and the service is free and confidential for staff and their family members. 
• Your local Human Resources team. 

In the ACT it is against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of a characteristic that you have, or that someone thinks you have, in an area of public life such as employment, education, provision of goods and services and accommodation. The characteristics included under the ACT legislation, these include:

It is against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of your disability which can include sensory disability, physical disability, intellectual disability, a temporary disability, a workplace injury, mental illness, brain injury, a neurological condition, a condition that results in a person learning differently, the presence in a person’s body of organisms that could cause illness or disease, and reliance on a support person, disability aid or assistance animal. It is also against the law for someone to discriminate against you because they assume you have or have had a disability, or may have a disability in the future. This might include assuming you may or might acquire a particular illness or a future injury because you may have had an illness or injury in the past.

People who are associates of a person with a disability are also protected from discrimination – so if you are discriminated against because you are a carer or friend, parent or work colleague or an advocate of a person with a disability you are also protected under the ACT Discrimination Act 1991 as well as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Racism is the process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race. Racism is more than just prejudice in thought or action. It occurs when this prejudice – whether individual or institutional – is accompanied by the power1 to discriminate against, oppress or limit the rights of others.

The ACT Discrimination Act 1991 makes it unlawful to treat you unfavourably because of your race. ‘Race’ includes a person’s colour, descent, ethnic or national origin and nationality. Treating you unfairly because of your accent or language is also unlawful. Asking for information about your ethnic or racial background may be unlawful if the purpose is to use the information to discriminate against you.

The Human Rights Commission’s Racism. It Stops With Me campaign website offers more information on racism and key terms.

In the ACT it is against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of your gender identity, including appearance or mannerisms or other gender related characteristics of a person, with or without regard to the person’s designated sex at birth. It is also unlawful to discriminate against a person because the record of their sex has been altered under the Births, Deaths and Marriages registration Act 1997 (or an equivalent law in another jurisdiction). 

It is against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of your sex, or any characteristic generally imputed to your sex. It is also against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of characteristics you have which are exclusive to one sex, including around pregnancy, potential pregnancy, and breastfeeding. 

It is against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of your sex characteristic variations or intersex status. 

It is against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of your sexual orientation – including if you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual or heterosexual.

Technology-facilitated abuse uses technology to threaten, intimidate, harass or humiliate someone – with the intent to hurt them socially, psychologically or even physically. Also known as cyber-abuse, it includes a range of behaviours including: 

• sending abusive or obscene text messages or emails 
• making continuous threatening phone calls 
• stalking a person online and hacking into their accounts, such as social media, banking or email accounts (cyberstalking) 
• spying on and monitoring victims through the use of tracking systems 
• personal attacks through social media sites 
• posting someone’s personal information online along with offensive and/or sexual comments 
• sharing intimate images of someone without their consent (image-based abuse) 
• using technology to control or manipulate home appliances, locks and other connected devices

The e-Safety Commissioner can provide general advice and guidance, including information about when to seek legal advice and where to go for legal assistance. The eSafety cyber abuse response guide may help in identifying appropriate actions, including reporting the abuse to various services and platforms.

You can report image-based abuse, and adult cyber abuse issues to e-Safety. With image-based abuse, e-Safety may be able to take removal action, and in some cases take action against the person who posted, or threatened to post, an intimate image without consent.

The Fair Work Amendment Act 2013 defines workplace bullying as repeated unreasonable behaviour by an individual towards a worker that creates a risk to health and safety. If you have experienced workplace bullying, don’t use the harmful behaviours disclosure tool, instead, you can lodge a confidential report on Figtree or you can also contact the Staff Respect Consultant for information and support. 

The Staff Respect Consultant can provide free and confidential support and a single point of contact for ANU staff who have experienced any of the harmful behaviours listed on this page or anyone who is supporting someone who has experienced a harmful behaviour.

The Staff Respect Consultant puts the safety and wellbeing of the person who has been subjected to the harmful behaviour at the centre of all responses and work using a trauma-informed framework which means you will be treated with dignity and respect that will empower you to make choices and connect with appropriate services. 

The Staff Respect Consultant is here to provide free and confidential support to ANU staff experiencing issues that may impact your wellbeing, work experience, engagement and career development. This could include, but is not limited to;

• ableism, 
• sexism, 
• racism, 
• discrimination, 
• harassment, 
• bullying, and 
• sexual harassment.

Receiving a disclosure of sexual assault and/or sexual harassment can be a difficult thing. It is important to remember that you are not alone, and you can contact the Staff Respect Consultant if you need support, information or de-briefing.

The University also offers free and confidential counselling for staff through the Employee Assistance Program.

The following provides you some steps on how to support someone through a disclosure. Please know, if you don’t feel comfortable having these conversations or the level of support required goes beyond your level of expertise in this area, there is no requirement for you to complete the below steps, you can connect in with any of the supports available at ANU or instead discuss other supports you may have immediate access to who can assist in the triage for support. 

1. Attend to immediate safety needs

Determine if there are any immediate safety or wellbeing concerns for the person who is making the disclosure. For time critical support, call emergency services on 000. If you are on-campus, please also contact ANU Security on 6125 2249.

Continue to access the safety and wellbeing needs of the person making the disclosure throughout your conversation.

2. Listen, believe, be supportive and explain your role

Listen and be supportive - It can be very hard for someone to disclose sexual assault and sexual harassment. Find a quiet space to talk and give the person your full attention. Let them tell you at their own pace, without interrupting or asking direct or probing questions about the experience. Silences are okay. Letting someone, take charge of what they disclose enables them to reclaim some control.

Believe the person - Do not ask 'why' questions. Validate their experience by acknowledging their distress. Saying 'I am sorry for what has happened' can be heard as 'I believe you'; saying 'What happened to you is never okay' can be heard as 'This is not your fault'. Let the person know they are not alone.

Explain your Role - Be upfront about your role and limits to your role. It is ok to say you need assistance from someone to ensure you can provide the best support and information. Do not make promises you can't keep or take responsibility to resolve the matter if it's outside the limits of your role.

Maintain confidentiality - Treat the disclosure respectfully and do not share details with others without permission unless the person who is making the disclosure is under 18 or you have concerns about their safety and wellbeing. In this instance, it is a legal requirement for you to present the information to a third party at ANU - such as the Staff Respect Consultant, Employee Relations or your local Human Resources team.

3. Refer to support

Part of your role as a first responder is to provide the person with information so they can make an informed choice about what to do next.

It is essential for the person making the disclosure to maintain control over their decisions. They may or may not want to talk to a support service. If they do, they need to find one with whom they feel safe to discuss their experience.

• The Staff Respect Consultant can provide confidential information and support and can assist the person work out what support they need.
• Canberra Rape Crisis Centre: 7am-11pm DAILY(02) 6247 2525 (voice calls) 0488 586 518 (text)
• Service Assisting Male Survivors of Sexual Assault (SAMSSA):- 7am-11pm DAILY(02) 6247 2525 (voice calls) 0488 586 518 (text)
• ANU Crisis Support Line 1300 050 327 or text 0488 884 170 (5pm - 9am Mon - Fri and 24/7 weekends and public holidays)
• Police - In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000) or for police assistance call 131 444
• Visit www.anu.edu.au/students/health-safety-wellbeing/getting-help-at-anu/urgent-support - ANU for a comprehensive list of ANU and community services.

4. Explain disclosure / reporting options

Remind the person they have an option to lodge a disclosure form with the ANU, report to the ANU or report to the Police. If they are unsure, they can discuss the options with the Staff Respect Consultant, who can assist them clarify the options and provide information on each of the processes.

Some survivors will not want to pursue resolution pathways at the stage of the disclosure and you need to respect that decision.

• ANU Online Disclosure form - can be de-identified and allows a person to document an incident they have experienced or witness. They can provide as much or little information as they are comfortable. An ANU Staff Respect Consultant will make contact within 72 hours to provide support if contact details are provided.
• Reports regarding an ANU staff member are lodged through your local Human Resources representative and follow the Procedure: Managing misconduct, serious misconduct and suspension.  
• If an ANU staff member is lodging a report on sexual misconduct they can reach out directly to Employee Relations by emailing employee.relations@anu.edu.au, following the sexual misconduct policy
• Reporting to the  Police  - information on reporting to the police can be accessed at Sexual Assault | Australian Capital Territory Policing (act.gov.au)

5. Self-care - contact a support service to debrief

It can be difficult hearing and supporting someone who has experienced sexual assault or harassment. It is important to look after yourself and have a confidential debrief if you need to.

You are encouraged to contact available support services including:

• Employee Assistance Program (staff): 1800 808 374
• ANU counselling (students): 02 6125 2211
• ANU advisor to staff: staff.adviser@anu.edu.au
• ANU Student Safety and Wellbeing Case Manager - particular for information and support regarding the disclosure process: 02 6125 2211 or student.wellbeing@anu.edu.au
• The Staff Respect Consultant can also provide a space to debrief and chat through further support available to you