More Canberra women are seeking advice on sexual assault, harassment, but legal action still low

She knows that a victim-survivor in Canberra can go to police, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the ACT Human Rights Commission, Victims Support ACT, LegalAid and the Women's Legal Centre.

She knows this because after her taxi driver sexually assaulted her in mid-2020, these were the paths left sprawling before her.

But after a police investigation did not progress to charges, and Alison pushed through months of interviews, inquiries, research and silence, she isn't pursuing any further legal action.

Data from the Women's Legal Centre ACT says she is not alone.

"I wish it was worth it, but it just didn't seem worth it," she said.

"There is no way you can continue with your life as is and also take on the burden of pursuing these things."

"The thought of knowing that the statistics show that nothing will come of it -- it didn't seem worth it at all," she said. "It's just a better option, I guess, emotionally, to get on with things and not bother."

She spoke to The Canberra Times on the condition of anonymity, to protect her identity. Alison is not her real name.

In the 2020-21 financial year, the Women's Legal Centre ACT registered a 46 per cent increase in the need for assistance relating to gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Demand for services related to sexual harassment was up 186 per cent.

Between April 2022 and April 2021 less than 20 per cent of clients reporting sexual harassment had taken formal legal action, with another 10 per cent still deciding whether to proceed.

"There are so many different options and I just think it's completely overwhelming," Bethany Hender, head of the Women's Legal Centre's Employment and Discrimination division said.

"And so many uncertainties involved that people just think, 'There's no guarantee with this ... I'm better off quitting my job and moving on and doing something different.' And that's what happens by the time people call us, they usually have left their work and have completely left that industry."

Ms Hender said she hoped a trend in more clients asserting their right to fair pay could translate to other areas.

"We're getting there with things like that, they're like: 'No, I know I'm being paid the wrong rate and I'm going to get a lawyer and I'm perfectly comfortable doing that.'

Not quite there yet with sexual harassment, but I feel like we're hopefully moving towards that."

Review into cases reported to police

The Women's Legal Centre was not the first stop for Alison, who contacted police immediately after her assault, which happened when she hailed a cab after a night spent with friends.

She said she was locked inside by the driver, assaulted and when she did manage to get out, was pursued by the driver who demanded she pay the fare.

Like many victim-survivors in the ACT, Alison's case did not progress to charge.

The territory government in May began a review of sexual assault cases reported to ACT police between July 2020 and December 2021, investigating why a low number have progressed to charge.

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The review follows a scathing report of the ACT's responses to sexual assault through the justice system, community and government agencies, released in December 2021.

While ACT police are only required to give victims of crime an update about the progress of an investigation every six weeks, Alison said waiting nearly two months for more information was painful.

"You're completely in the dark," she said.

"ACT Policing assesses each matter on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the ACT [Director of Public Prosecutions] prosecution guidelines and often in consultation with the Office of the ACT DPP," a spokesperson said, adding that they welcomed the forthcoming review.

Alison said that while she was informed about making a complaint with the Human Rights Commissions, it felt too daunting.

This is exactly what ACT Discrimination Commissioner Karen Toohey fears, that "people self select out" of making complaints to the ACT Human Rights Commission.

The commission can facilitate resolution of matters through a conciliation process, or a complainant can take a matter on to ACAT for determination of the matter.

"Our approach is to say to people: 'Give us a call. If we can't help you, we will work out a pathway forward for you," she said.

She worries that people feel what they've experienced isn't "a big enough issue to deal with" or that the process is complex and legalistic, and they don't have enough proof.

"One of the things certainly that the commissions try and do is to make sure that people understand that they don't have to have all their ducks lined up, they don't have to have CCTV, you know, that it's not a criminal process," she said.

"It's much better to contact the agency and get some information about what the reality is rather than people self selecting out of these processes."

In 2020-21, the ACT commission received 20 sexual harassment complaints of 218 discrimination complaints, while nine have been recorded so far in 2021-22.

"Though it's a small number of the overall number of discrimination matters that we get, it has increased over the last couple of years," Ms Toohey said.

Alison wants to see a toolkit created for victim-survivors of sexual violence, to streamline the process of accessing legal aid and strip away some of the fear.

She loves Canberra, which once felt like a "safe bubble", but it will never be the same for her.

"It's really opened my eyes about how -- and for men in particular -- how inappropriate and disrespectful a lot of people are, when they're out drinking or when they're out at night," she said.

"And it's just not something I can deal with anymore."

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