As part of the initiative, in 2016, Universities Australia collaborated with the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct a national survey of university students’ experiences of sexual harm.

The start of August marked three years since the results of this important and significant survey were released.

Through the survey, it was identified that universities should address five key areas of action to work towards the goal of preventing sexual harm: leadership and governance, changing attitudes and behaviours, university responses to sexual assault and sexual harassment, monitoring and evaluation, and residential colleges and university residences.

In 2018, Murdoch University joined other Australian universities in collectively releasing data about sexual assault and harassment to raise awareness of the R.N.A campaign and assist in reaching its goals.

We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff at our campuses, and we are continuously working towards projects and initiatives that support the goals of R.N.A.

Led by the Provost, the Murdoch University R.N.A Advisory Group works with teams across the whole of the University to maintain the health and safety of our community. Some of the key initiatives and achievements over the past three years include:

• Establishing a comprehensive web resource to help ensure the Murdoch community is free from sexual harassment and assault. The resource includes contact numbers for help, the definition of sexual harassment, how to report, and how to support with disclosures of sexual harm.
• Adding resources for responding to sexual harassment and assault into the University Security, Safety and Wellbeing Guidelines, including full details about how to respond to and report sexual harassment or assault.
• Providing online and face-to-face training to staff to help them more effectively respond to any disclosures. To enhance this, we will soon be implementing a new online training module that has been developed by Universities Australia and the Australian Psychological Society.
• Hosting workshops to help students and staff create a culture of respect by being active bystanders and challenging people's behaviour. This has included embedding the course within a compulsory component of undergraduate degrees, so students can complete it as part of their course of study.
• Running awareness campaigns for students, including consent and healthy relationships during SHAG (Sexual Health and Guidance) Week and embedding these themes into new student orientation.
• Upgrading our CCTV network by replacing all analogue cameras with newer digital ones, which span a greater area of the campus and provide high definition footage. As part of the project, we have also relocated and upgraded our security control room.
• Improved our reporting systems through the MurdochSafe app. We are currently working on a new online reporting tool to make this process even easier.

Preventing sexual harassment and assault is everyone's responsibility. We know there is more to do to raise awareness on this important issue and are continuing our work in this space by implementing a range of programs and initiatives to help raise awareness of respectful relationships, how to support people who disclose traumatic experiences and how to report incidents of sexual harm.

All complaints of sexual harassment and assault are taken seriously and handled promptly and fairly. If you recognise a potentially harmful situation, we encourage you to intervene if it is safe to do so. We encourage you to visit our webpage for more information on how you can support people who have experienced sexual harm.

Earlier this year, Universities Australia decided to postpone the next national survey to minimise any additional stress on students as they navigate the impacts of COVID-19. The survey is now scheduled to be released in June 2021.

If you need support, Murdoch Counselling Service can be contacted for appointments on 08 9360 1227 or by walking in to the service (located on Bush Court) and is open Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm.

Outside these hours, Lifeline provides confidential crisis support. If you need support, please call 13 11 14 or visit the Lifeline website.