We must urgently remove that responsibility from individual companies and organisations. There must be legislation in place to immediately notify the Fair Work Commission if there are allegations of sexual harassment. Some companies and organisations have no processes in place that are sufficient or fair. So many women go to human resources and assume they will be treated justly and that their complaints will be taken seriously.

They are disappointed. Time and time again.

That’s been starkly played out in the case of Barnaby Joyce (and here was I thinking I would never have to write those words again). Joyce, whose chaotic private life made it impossible for him to lead the Nationals, is back. As Bevan Shields wrote on Thursday, the push to undermine the current leader of the Nationals Michael McCormack is “real and gathering speed”.

But it’s not just Joyce’s private life that made it impossible for him to lead. Earlier this year, West Australian Catherine Marriott went public with her sexual harassment allegation against Joyce earlier this year. That led to an internal party investigation.  The investigation started with federal Nationals and then was hived off to NSW. The NSW Nationals completed the investigation but were “unable to make a determination” about the allegation due to insufficient evidence. They refused to release the final report. Joyce has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing, branding the allegations "spurious and defamatory".

Marriott was upset but not surprised at the findings.

“The party never had the external processes in place to deal with a complaint of sexual harassment by a Member of Parliament," she told the ABC last month.

"My complaint was handled internally by NSW National Party executive with no professional external expert brought in at any stage to handle the matter,” she said.

So in the absence of any finding against him, this man can lead his party again.

We know the current processes for sexual harassment complaints are not working. When the Australian Human Rights Commission released the results of its recent survey on workplace sexual harassment, it found one in five workers complained about harassment but half of those who complained said nothing changed after the complaint. The commission itself doesn’t have power to start its own investigations or legal proceedings but it can assist and intervene in legal proceedings. Not that it’s done a lot of that. The Coalition hasn’t exactly provided rivers of funding for the AHRC.

Of course, Marriott’s not the only one who has observed process problems. A few weeks back, I wrote about a young man on the telly who has been the subject of 12 complaints. The last I heard, he’d got himself a fancy new gig while still under investigation. And who can forget what happened to Amy Taeuber, the young Channel Seven cadet marched from the workplace after she complained about the behaviour of a male colleague.

There is only one thing to do and that is to ensure sexual harassment claims are dealt with by an external arbitrator. The Fair Work Act must now be reformed to include a way for the Fair Work Commission to deal with sexual harassment claims. Victims, either as individuals or with union representation, should be able to seek an urgent stop order against the behaviour and seek conciliation first or if that doesn't work, then head to arbitration.

What we’ve got doesn’t work. As Kate Jenkins said at the time of the release of the survey results, “We know from our research that many people are afraid to report their experiences of unwelcome sexual conduct out of fear that they won’t be believed, that it’s not worth it, that they’ll be ostracised and that it could damage their career.”

And it goes on for years and years. The group of people surveyed by the AHRC who said they experienced the highest level of sexual harassment were aged between 18 and 29; and that’s right at the beginning of careers. It can go on for decades. It’s not just careers that are damaged, it’s also mental health.

We need everyone to have access to similar, transparent and accountable processes. Giving the Fair Work Commission responsibility for sexual harassment would make that possible for everyone. It protects everyone, no matter their status. And it would remove that responsibility from the organisations which only have their own interests and reputations at heart.

Jenna Price is an academic at the University of Technology and a Fairfax columnist.