Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek has spoken candidly about the time she was stalked and threatened with rape while studying at the University of Technology, Sydney.
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"And it breaks my heart that more hasn't changed since then."
At the launch of the Human Rights Commission and University Australia's Respect. Now. Always. national student survey on sexual assault and sexual harassment, Plibersek spoke candidly about her time studying journalism and running political campaigns at university.
"A lot has not changed since I was women's officer at UTS, when we campaigned on sexual harassment and sexual assault on university campuses," she said.
"I was stalked at university and when we had our sexual harassment campaign I got a phone call in the middle of the night threatening to rape me."
"And it breaks my heart that more hasn't changed since then."
"It's heartbreaking that we are still asking students to cope in an environment where they don't feel safe, where they feel harassed where they feel actually physically at risk."
A survey by the National Union of Students in 2015 found that 75% of respondents had been sexually harassed and 27% of students had been sexually assaulted on or off campus.
One in 5 women in Australia have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime, and according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, men and LGBTI people are increasingly reporting abuse.
Human rights commissioner, Gillian Triggs, believes it's time to reach out to students from all universities across the country to understand the scale and nature of harassment.
"We have been receiving reports for a very long time, sporadic and in different institutions, about sexual assault and harassment," she said.
"They are extremely distressing and they are not just campus pranks. They are appalling examples of sexist and demeaning attitudes to women. In particular women but not always women."
Plibersek hopes the survey will be a step towards ending violence, the threat of violence and the fear of violence at universities.