“Even though some in the industry might say there’s no problems whatsoever, the fact is I have to be alive to the issues that are put before me. “Now, as the Equal Opportunity Commissioner, it would be neglectful of me just to thank them for their call and not to do anything about it,” she says. Through her office, Carney is aware that “particularly young people are being exploited, harassed, and discrimination is rife”. “I’m not sure why some think the hospitality industry is different from other sectors.” “The experience of those reviews was that once a review was undertaken and members of those sectors were surveyed, through the cover of an anonymous survey, they in some cases provided very stark and distressing incidences of sexual harassment,” she says. In the last two reviews her office has undertaken – into the parliamentary workplace and the legal profession – Carney says the process uncovered that “people under-report sexual harassment”. She says the groups indicated they were “not prepared to contribute to the funding of a review”.Ĭarney is also “troubled” that due to a lack of data on sexual harassment and assault in the industry, some organisations “took the view that there was very little discriminatory behaviour”. “The purpose of the meeting was to ascertain their understanding of the extent of discrimination and sexual harassment in the industry, and to ascertain as to whether they would be prepared to fund a review,” Carney tells CityMag after her report was submitted to parliament. The commissioner says that in June she met with with a range of hospitality industry organisations – the Australian Hoteliers Association (AHA), Clubs SA, SA Unions, Restaurant & Catering Industry Association, SA Wine Industry Association and Hostplus – and was met with some resistance.
Without funding, Carney says her office doesn’t have the resources to conduct the wider examination of the industry.
The commissioner has also met with a range of industry bodies and says they told her they aren’t prepared to fund such a review, which she believes will give a clearer picture of the size of the issue. “Some industry representatives have advised that such conduct is commonplace and that underreporting, a well-known hallmark of sexual assault and harassment, is widespread,” Carney wrote. In her report, the commissioner says that over the last six months “a number of approaches have been made to my office about bullying, intimidation, harassment and discriminatory conduct in several industries, most notably the hospitality sector”. The hospitality industry is “rife” with bullying, exploitation and harassment, Equal Opportunity Commissioner Jodeen Carney tells CityMag – but she says some peak bodies are underplaying the extent of the problem.Ĭarney calls for review into the state’s hospitality industry in the Equal Opportunity Commission’s 2021-22 Annual Report, tabled in parliament at the end of September.
0 kommentar(er)
