Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Deakin for his question. Labor believes that bullying has got no place in Australian workplaces. We believe that bullying is like racism and discrimination: it has no place in modern Australian workplaces. But what we do know, all too sadly, is that bullying does occur in Australian workplaces. It is real, it has a cost and it is hurtful. I have seen this first-hand, as has the member for Deakin and as has the state Attorney-General, Robert Clark. I am talking about the Panlock family, who lost a daughter. Brodie was bullied at a Hawthorn cafe. The investigations have found that she was bullied but those investigations came far too late, and she committed suicide.

I cannot imagine the loss and I cannot imagine the life not lived.

We could do better, we should do better and we shall do better. We shall amend the Fair Work Act. We shall provide timely, accessible, low-cost relief and remedy for people who have complaints of bullying in the workplace. I am grateful to the member for Kingston and her committee. She has helped guide us for a national definition on bullying. She has helped guide us about national training to deal with workplace bullying. Bullying means repeated, unreasonable behaviour towards a worker or a group of workers which creates a risk to health and safety. We will provide a mechanism whereby, if someone has a complaint, it can at least be listed to be solved within 14 days through the Fair Work Commission—Australia's industrial umpire. We are going to work with the state regulators, but we are taking workplace bullying and declaring that it is an issue to do with workplace relations. We have responded to the member for Kingston's report, and I would like to table that.

For the record—and I would like to conclude on this: we do believe that workplace bullying is a workplace relations issue which deserves a workplace relations policy. Every member of the House—from Labor, the Liberals or the crossbenches—will have to make a decision on the issue of workplace bullying in the next few months. We will amend the Fair Work Act. I hope and I expect that the amendments we propose will be supported by everyone in the House, because what we are about with our workplace relations policy is productive workplaces and flexible workplaces, but, most importantly, safe workplaces.

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