Every person deserves to feel safe at work. But women are paying a heavy price if they speak up or blow the whistle to exposing wrongdoing in Australia. This is compounded by women on temporary visas, who previously faced having their visas cancelled if they spoke up about exploitation at work. For the past year, the Human Rights Law Centre has shone a spotlight on women’s experiences in speaking up about injustice they see in their workplaces, and led calls for reform. The Centre has been working with women to advocate for the end of restrictive use of non-disclosure agreements, which have been used to silence women. This includes Julia Delaforce, who broke her 15-year silence of sexual harassment in the Australian Defence Forces on 60 Minutes. In November 2025, Victoria became the first state in Australia to pass laws restricting NDAs.

The Centre has also been working in partnership to develop new laws which will protect women, victim-survivors and other community groups to be able to speak up on issues from legal threats.

The Centre was also successful in advocating for a two year pilot beginning 1 July 2024 for visa protections which mean women on temporary visas are protected from visa cancellation for speaking up about workplace exploitation, including sexual harassment. We are advocating for the pilot to be made permanent. The Centre also leads the campaign for an Australian Human Rights Act to put human rights including gender rights at the heart of our laws.