Scott Morrison has sought to defend his record on women, insisting federal parliament is a safer place since an alleged rape in a minister's office.
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The prime minister pointed to an independent complaints mechanism set up last year after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins went public about her alleged 2019 rape at the hands of a colleague.
"That process that we examined closely - that let down so many a year ago, and before - has been significantly changed, and for the better," Mr Morrison told the National Press Club on Tuesday.
The government declined to make the complaints mechanism retrospective, which was among recommendations from senior bureaucrat Stephanie Foster, despite urging from coalition MPs Celia Hammond and Anne Webster.
Instead, it's limited to complaints stemming from the current parliamentary term onwards.
A Parliamentary Workplace Support Service website also includes links for people who say "something happened to me" and "someone has accused me". Both links lead to the hotline.
The government also made sexual harassment training mandatory for coalition ministers and staffers.
"I believe it's safer today than it was a year ago because of those changes and the brave stands that people have taken on these issues," Mr Morrison said.
He insisted the complaints mechanism and counselling support meant anyone who came forward with allegations similar to Ms Higgins would receive greater support.
"(It) provides an environment should, God forbid, that ever happen to anyone again, that they will find a situation very different to the one Ms Higgins found herself in," Mr Morrison said.
The coalition has been hammered over the way it's dealt with allegations of harassment and abuse at parliament.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' review of parliament's workplace culture last year found one-third of people surveyed had been sexually harassed.
The government had earlier voted against writing into the Sex Discrimination Act a positive duty for employers proactively prevent sexual harassment.
Cabinet minister Alan Tudge remains on leave after former staffer Rachelle Miller alleged emotional and physical abuse by him.
Mr Morrison commissioned an inquiry into that matter, at the end of the year.
But Ms Miller declined to participate on the grounds its terms of reference and time frame all but guaranteed a favourable result for the government.
Former attorney-general Christian Porter announced he would quit politics at the looming election after using anonymous donations to help fund his defamation case against the public broadcaster.
He sued the ABC after naming himself as the cabinet minister who was the subject of the ABC's story about the alleged 1988 rape of a now-deceased woman.
Mr Porter strenuously denied the allegations and settled the defamation case before trial.
Australian Associated Press
