Australian universities should be beefing up their support services for past sexual assault victims ahead of next month's release of a Human Rights Commission report detailing the extent of the problem ANU Students' Association president, James Connolly, said on Tuesday.
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"There must be adequate resourcing of support staff in anticipation of the (HRC) survey result release to address the potential for retraumatisation," he said.
Mr Connolly, who praised the announcement of a five day a week counselling service for sexual assault victims at the ANU as a victory for student advocacy, said the move "scratched the surface" and Australia needed to have a national conversation about sexual violence.
"Today's announcement (of the counselling service) is possible because students have said enough is enough and demanded action," he said. "It has taken a national survey (on sexual assault and sexual harassment) and (the work) of past student giants."
The counselling service, a joint initiative of the ANU, the students' association and the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, comes in the wake of several sexual assault and misogyny scandals at the university and some of its residential colleges.
As recently as March this year four male students, residents at the ANU's John XXXIII College, were reportedly suspended for chanting graphic sexual rhymes about "nailing" women.
Seven students were reportedly expelled or suspended in 2016 over their involvement in a Facebook group on which photos and videos of female student's clothed breasts were allegedly posted.
The new counselling service, which builds on links between the ANU and the CRCC that date back to 2005, pre-empts the release of the results of the HRC survey on sexual assault and harassment at Australian universities scheduled for August. The survey was commissioned by Universities Australia.
ANU vice-chancellor, Brian Schmidt, reaffirmed on Tuesday the university's commitment to making its data set from the survey results public. He has encouraged the leaders of other universities to do the same.
CRCC chief executive, Chrystina Stanford, said although the establishment of an on-campus sexual assault counselling service was "long overdue," ANU was still well ahead of its peers.
"I have yet to see another university in the country that has been so proactive."
Mr Connolly said universities needed to review the policies, processes and protocols that had left survivors of assaults feeling silenced in the past and that more information needed to be circulated about the support mechanisms that were in place.
"This is personal for so many of us, including me," he said. "I've held a pastoral care role for two years. For two years I have sat opposite young people as they have disclosed they have been sexually assaulted but didn't know where else to go and were fearful they wouldn't be believed."
