In the year that Australia has had this revelation this sounds like there are some people who’d like things brushed under the carpet.
The idea that there shouldn’t be a number of enquiries to root out as many individuals as possible as quickly as possible smack to us of somebody trying to cover up something.
The Australian legal profession is chocka with bullies and harassment it’s time something was done about it
Lawyers Weekly reports…
The government-led investigation into sexual harassment in the profession will prevent progress in South Australia and only serves as an “unnecessary”, replicated procedure already conducted by many of the state and national professional legal bodies.
The South Australian government has thrown its support behind a motion for the Equal Opportunity Commission or another independent body to examine the extent of sexual harassment and bullying in the legal profession, but while the move may be welcomed by some, the Law Society of South Australia warned that it would only prevent any crucial progress.
The Law Society said it is concerned that the motion will not effectively achieve any of its desired outcomes as it does not take into account the “significant work” by the legal bodies in the state and across national levels. President Tim White said the motion will likely delay the progress and implementation of measures currently well underway.
“The Law Society does not support the inquiry as it is concerned it will not only overlap with and duplicate existing and previous work but it is also likely to delay the significant measures currently well underway,” Mr Game said, adding that the inquiry funding will be better spent on the $98,000 the Law Society identified was needed for training.
The government has asked the inquiry to examine whether an independent complaints body is needed for lawyers or members of the judiciary to lodge anonymous concerns, complaints and seek advice about other legal practitioners. However, procedures have already been put in place at a federal level to examine the effectiveness of the bodies.
The government inquiry has also asked that the independent body examine frequency and prevalence of the behaviour with new research, despite many studies already – and recently – carried out by the Law Society and other major professional legal bodies.
