The Australian Border Force has apologised to its staff for failing to “prevent workplace misconduct from occurring” after two damning reports found sexual discrimination and harassment rife in the ABF.
The ABF’s senior leadership issued the apology in May, after Australian Human Rights Commission reports into the culture of the marine unit and the broader ABF found bullying and harassment “are normalised” in some sections of the workforce.
The sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, found that “gender inequality persists in the ABF, creating unsafe work environments for some women” including instances of “potentially unlawful conduct”.
“We acknowledge there have been instances where we failed to prevent workplace misconduct from occurring and, for this, we apologise,” the ABF’s senior executive service wrote to staff.
“We take full responsibility for these shortcomings and pledge to foster a safe, inclusive, empowered, accountable and supportive workplace environment.”
The apology was distributed to team leaders and published on the intranet; some staff have reported they are yet to see it.
The ABF leadership said “we must ensure that our workplace is an inclusive environment where everyone is able to bring their full self to work and feel safe, respected and valued”.
“This is non-negotiable. Bullying and intimidation, sexual harassment, exclusion, discrimination and racism have no place within our organisation and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.”
The AHRC uncovered complaints about a perceived lack of consequences for alleged perpetrators of bullying and harassment, including accused officers in the marine unit being transferred to other vessels rather than being punished.
The ABF leadership committed “to take action, address inappropriate behaviour, model the behaviour we want to see and build the culture, trust and confidence we all need”.
“We will not compromise on how we treat each other to deliver the mission.”
The ABF leadership said they “deeply value” the work of staff, committing to “genuinely listening to you to ensure we achieve a safe and inclusive workplace for all”.
“We encourage everyone to value and embrace our commitment to speak up, to listen and to act. We make this pledge to you.”
In its report on the marine unit, the AHRC found that 100% of women who responded to a survey “witnessed sex discrimination, sexual … and/or sex-based harassment” and 78% had personally experienced that behaviour.
Instances of alleged sexual discrimination in the ABF included misogynistic and belittling comments, withholding information from a pregnant officer, and comments from a team leader about wanting to “get rid of all his part-time workers” who were all women.
An ABF spokesperson said “some of the behaviours detailed in the reports are confronting and disturbing, and run counter to our ABF values”.
“While this type of conduct is not representative of all officers in our organisation, it is clear that outdated ideas and assumptions about gender – which also exist in the broader community – along with a lack of respect for diversity and inclusion, drive these behaviours within the organisation.”
The reports were produced by the AHRC as part of a five-year partnership with the ABF which the commissioner, Michael Outram, said he had “proactively commissioned” in April 2022. The ABF has accepted all 42 recommendations of the reports.
The Community and Public Sector Union assistant national secretary, Melissa Payne, said the union “welcomes this apology to workers, but it is the actions they now take that will determine whether ABF is committed to change”.
Payne said that “CPSU members in these workplaces have been advocating for safe and respectful workplaces for years”.
“Their advocacy was met with defensiveness, denial and resistance from ABF leadership time and time again.”
Payne called on the ABF to “proactively engage with workers and their union to ensure reforms are effective, comprehensive, robust and properly implemented”.
The ABF spokesperson said the apology is a “a small but significant step in addressing the AHRC recommendations”.
ABF has conducted workshops to ensure a strong understanding of the “positive duty obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act, our role in prevention and response to workplace issues”.
“We have also commenced work to ensure staff raising complaints are supported in a person-centric, trauma informed way.”
