Let’s Talk About Confidentiality is a research report published on 6 March 2024 by Sharmilla Bargon (Working Women’s Centre NSW) and Regina Featherstone (Human Rights Law Centre), inaugural Social Justice Practitioners-in-Residence at the University of Sydney.
The report investigates how sexual harassment practitioners resolve out-of-court settlements and approach confidentiality terms. It builds on the Respect@Work Report, which warned that NDAs risk silencing victim-survivors and protecting harassers. Recommendation 38 of that report called for best-practice guidelines and an end to NDAs being treated as the default in every case.
Through research with Australian legal practitioners and international comparisons, the authors examined how the misuse of NDAs is being addressed — including legislative reforms and reframing it as a professional conduct and governance issue.
