Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) | Hansard source

The Parliamentary Workplace Reform (Set the Standard Measures No. 1) Bill 2022 will make initial changes to four pieces of legislation in order to implement recommendations 17 and 24 of the Set the standard report of the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces, otherwise known as the Jenkins report. Just a reminder: Kate Jenkins, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, is also a proud Goldstein constituent.

The bill will progress important and significant reforms to help ensure that Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces are workplaces where expected standards of behaviour are modelled, championed and enforced, where respectful behaviour is standard and where any Australian, no matter their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, disability or age, feels safe and welcome to contribute.

The bill will amend the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 to strengthen and clarify the employment rights of MOP(S) Act employees. The bill removes any doubt that the Fair Work Act 2009 applies to MOP(S) Act employees by making this explicit, and will require parliamentarians to provide written reasons where they dismiss an employee from employment. These amendments result in additional information being provided to employees who are being terminated, which will also result in an update to current forms required to terminate employees consistent with Commissioner Jenkins's recommendations.

The grounds for dismissing an employee have not changed. They may include: a restructure of the office which calls for different sets of employee skills; unsatisfactory performance or conduct by the employee; where the parliamentarian has lost trust or confidence in the employee; and where the employee has a significant conflict of interest.

The bill will amend the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to clarify that parliamentarians are officers of the Commonwealth for the purposes of the Work Health and Safety Act. This bill will amend the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to put beyond doubt that MOP(S) Act employees have protection from age and disability discrimination, consistent with recent amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

The government has, on a number of occasions, indicated support for the report's recommendations. The government has worked with the opposition, other parties and independents to establish a leadership task force to help drive implementation. A first meeting of the task force, independently chaired by Ms Kerri Hartland, was held on 3 February 2022. The task force will be integral to ensuring progress on all the Jenkins report recommendations, noting not all the recommendations are solely for the government to implement. For the recommendations that are solely within the government's responsibility, the intention is that these be implemented within the recommendation time frames. Thus far, the recommendations are on track. The government is, of course, conscious that the recommendations are complex, and it is making sure to work through the issues carefully.

This bill will provide additional protections to MOP(S) Act employees and provide clear intent that the government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the Jenkins report. Significantly, the reforms in the legislative package would ensure that Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces are safe and respectful and that the nation's parliament serves as a model workplace for our nation and strives for best practice in the prevention and handling of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Of course, all of us in this chamber, I would hope, would never need to resort to such obligations, but the practical reality is that sometimes they may occur. But the hope is that we can build a culture within this workplace where everybody feels a sense of dignity, respect for their work and inclusion. That really is one of the many factors that motivate not just me but many members who appear before this chamber: we come to this place to make a better nation. Of course, as many speakers have remarked, no-one should come to the Commonwealth parliament and feel that they are not a full participant in our nation and its success. We should be a model workplace. We sometimes have fallen short in the past, sometimes very egregiously and seriously. Our responsibility as members of parliament from this point forward is to show that we have learned the lessons from the past, from those who have engaged in misconduct; to ensure that it does not occur again; and, critically, to recognise the excellent work that has been done by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins.

As I remarked before, obviously in my former capacity as Australia's Human Rights Commissioner I had some dealings with Commissioner Jenkins in her capacity as Victoria's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner, where she did an equally excellent job. She's done an outstanding job in compiling this report and providing a pathway for those who have worked in and around the parliament presently and in the past to bring forward their concerns and ensure that they are heard with respect. I also participated in the inquiry, and I was very happy to do so. I outlined the challenges that are faced across the board. It's not just, of course, the concerns that staff have brought, although they're immensely important and I'm glad they have been given voice. Members of parliament also have their own concerns about how some of the legal and practical applications of the law and culture of Parliament House occur and about the power imbalances. The environment that's created is a consequence of those hard power imbalances in the workplace as well as soft power imbalances that exist too.

We all share a collective will and ambition to address these issues as part of improving a workplace to make it one that every Australian can be proud of, not just because they can look to their nation's parliament as a model workplace but so that the stain that has occurred from serious allegations of misconduct in the past does not continue to diminish this parliament, because it should be a beacon of light for the nation about what we can achieve when we work together to improve the health and welfare of our nation.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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