Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am pleased to speak on the Parliamentary Workplace Reform (Set the Standard Measures No. 1) Bill 2022. I am also pleased that you are in the chamber, and in the chair, as I begin to speak because, Mr Speaker, your comments yesterday in response to the member for Warringah and the member for Chifley, who raised concerns about the length of time that we sat last Wednesday evening, when the House didn't rise until nearly 5 am, were very thoughtful and very encouraging. For one of the first times, I heard a member in this place, a Speaker, acknowledge that, yes, we were following procedure and precedent and convention, and we were working within the rules of the House and the agreement between the parties, but that doesn't mean that we can't reflect on whether that should change. I think it does need to change.

I do not think that it is safe for anyone to be in this place for almost 24 hours straight and then have to come back within a couple of hours, if they left at all, to do another very long, full day of work in a workplace that is unlike any other. Mr Speaker, I want to record my thanks to you for the reflection that you gave on the issues that were raised, and I commend the members who raised them. These are the conversations that we need to have to continually improve the way that this place operates. Mr Speaker, thank you.

To the member for Moreton: thank you for your very kind comments. The member for Moreton is, unfortunately, one of the few people on the other side who, in my experience, has consistently called out bad behaviour, appalling behaviour, dangerous behaviour. I'm very grateful for that. Thank you. He's said some very kind things. But we all have to take responsibility for cultural change, for changing the way we interact and for changing the boundaries of the way that we interact, especially for women. The safety of everyone is becoming increasingly more fraught in this place. I want every single member and senator, and all of our staff, to be safe going about their work here in Parliament House and out in the electorate. It is our responsibility to call out bad behaviour when we see it and do whatever we can to improve it for our staff and the wonderful staff who work in this building, our staff who travel with us, and all members and senators.

The Parliamentary Workplace Reform (Set the Standard Measures No. 1) Bill 2022 implements two recommendations from the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Kate Jenkins, whose report, Set the standard: report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces, was handed down on 30 November 2021. I will refer to it as the Jenkins report.

The legislative changes proposed by recommendation 17 and 24 of the Jenkins report to confirm that the Fair Work Act 2009, the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 apply to people employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, the MOP(S) Act. In particular, the bill implements recommendation 17 of the report by amending the MOP(S) Act to make it clear that the Fair Work Act 2009 applies to MOP(S) Act employees. While this has always been the case, the bill removes any doubt by making this explicit. This is an important safety net for MOP(S) Act employees.

Amending the MOP(S) Act to require a parliamentarian to provide reasons for dismissing an employee from employment recognises that employees have a right to know why they have been dismissed and ensures dismissals under the MOP(S) Act follows best practice. Employees ought to know why their employment has been terminated and if it's for a lawful reason, such as a restructure or the end of a fixed-term contract. Amending the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 will clarify that parliamentarians are officers of the Commonwealth for purposes of this act.

The bill also implements recommendation 24 of the Jenkins report by amending the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to clarify that these laws apply to persons employed or engaged under the MOP(S) Act are sought to ensure that these workers have protection from age and disability discrimination.

It was clear through the review process that staff of parliamentarians often believed that they were presented with limited avenues to address complaints through a human resources process and that they often feared for their long-term employment prospects should their employment be terminated due to disagreements with their member or senator. These proposed changes to the MOP(S) Act will help address these issues and alleviate these concerns, providing staff with certainty through a legislative framework that clearly defines their role. The bill represents another important step in implementing recommendations of the Jenkins report to ensure that Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces are safe and respectful workplaces for all.

There is so much more from the Jenkins report that will be implemented and that is being worked through by people on all sides of this place. The Member for Moreton also reflected that we cannot do our jobs without our staff. I'm lucky to have a wonderful electorate office who have supported me incredibly well through my time here. I know the challenges they face; we all know the challenges they face. They often have people on the phone who can be aggressive, can be abusive, can be rude, and they have to deal with that. They have people presenting them with distressing issues. People might be suicidal. People might have had terrible life catastrophes that they then turn to us to seek help for. We know that the hours for our staff are a huge challenge as well, as I've already reflected on. So I do want to acknowledge the incredible work our staff do and that we have a lot more to do. I do believe that this is a bipartisan approach on making sure that this place is as safe for our staff as possible.

I was pleased to see that the multiparty Leadership Taskforce has been established. They have an independent expert chair, and we have members and senators from across all parties, which again means that staff across the board will be looked after and be front of mind for all of the members and senators involved in the Leadership Taskforce. We are also undertaking a comprehensive review of the MOP(S) Act, consistent with recommendation 18 of the Jenkins report, which will conclude in September 2022.

At the start of last week, on the first day of our sitting, we had the statement of acknowledgment, which was recommendation 1 of the report. It was delivered by presiding officers in both chambers. I was very pleased to be here in this chamber on the first sitting day to hear the Speaker, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Nationals, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the Greens and the crossbench also apologise and acknowledge the unacceptable history of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces. I do note that this was not just an apology and acknowledgment to staff but also to members and senators as well.

Every person should feel safe and respected in their workplace. Personally, I'm someone who has not felt either of these things for a range of reasons, but unfortunately that is mainly because of the behaviour of the left, whether it was GetUp, Labor, the unions or Extinction Rebellion, who targeted my electorate office a number of times in increasing intensity that made me and my staff feel very unsafe. Unfortunately, there are some junior and senior men who are supporters of the left, I guess you could say, who have behaved in completely unacceptable ways towards me as well. All of this started in the lead-up to the 2019 election and hasn't stopped since, and, as such, I do believe I have a better understanding than most about what it is to be targeted, to be attacked and to feel unsafe in your workplace. Whether it was out and about in my electorate or sitting at my desk in the electorate office, it's not just the physical confrontations, it is the absolutely disgraceful, hateful online abuse that particularly comes at women in public roles—not just me but so many other women in public roles—and you can't stop it, because it's online. I'll have a lot more to say about this in the next couple of days.

I just want to add my voice to those who have said that they are deeply sorry and regretful, as I am, that there are so many other women, staff, MPs and senators in this place who have felt unsafe doing their jobs. The statement of acknowledgment demonstrates that it's unacceptable for anyone in this place to expect or accept abusive, harassing, offensive or dangerous conduct. I think our bipartisan message to everyone, especially our staff, is: You don't have to suffer in silence. It is time to speak up. We'll support you to do so and to help us achieve the change that we need to achieve.

I really want to sincerely thank everyone who's participated in the Jenkins review. I think that thanks to this review this place can become a best-practice workplace and model for a positive, respectful workplace and for positive, respectful working relationships. I hope that every single member and senator in this place is going to do all they can to ensure that this is the case.

I'm very mindful of the Speaker's words earlier, but I do want to particularly acknowledge Ms Brittany Higgins for being the catalyst for this report and for the change that we are seeing. I know her matter is before the courts, so, although I was going to make some further remarks, I won't. What I do want to say is that the Jenkins report goes to so many issues that will take a long time to resolve in this place, but I do believe that we will ensure that this becomes a much, much safer workplace for everyone.

It really does break my heart that we have young women who have terrible experiences as staff in this place. I worked here in 2008 and 2009 in the Leader of the Opposition's office, and I worked in the South Australian Leader of the Opposition's office and for a shadow minister in SA as well. I spent a lot of time working in parliament and a lot of time travelling, and I can absolutely say that I never felt unsafe. I was never singled out as a woman, targeted as a woman or attacked as a woman. I had a wonderful experience. That experience and the learning I acquired whilst a member of staff really set me up for the rest of my career. So it does break my heart to see all of the female staff who haven't had those experiences. That's why, in part—but also because of the things that have happened to me—I will continue, including after I've left this place, to ensure in any way I can that we all work together to make sure that our federal parliament is the safest place it can possibly be for women, whatever their role might be here, and also for parliamentarians and staff across the board.

I'm really proud of what our government has done and what Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done and the leadership that he has provided which has seen us make so many changes already. Those changes probably don't get nearly enough acknowledgment. I certainly understand them because, again, they've impacted me personally. We have, of course, this bill before us today. We've had the Jenkins report and the Foster report. We've implemented many of the recommendations of the Respect@Work report. We have changed the Electoral Act to make it safer for all candidates and sitting MPs, particularly in a campaign situation, which is absolutely critical to making sure that the Australian people continue to have free and easy access to their elected representatives. I do not want us to turn into a country where you have to book an appointment with your MP or senator to see them. I want us to stay the place where you can run into us doing a listening post at the shops. That's if members and senators are anything like I was during my time as the member for Boothby. I did hundreds and hundreds of street corner listening posts and mobile offices in parks and on roadsides around my electorate. When we take that away or if we say, 'No you can't see us in person at all because it's too dangerous,' then we lose the essence of our democracy.

I thank the Prime Minister for the Online Safety Act, and I also acknowledge the Prime Minister and the minister for communications for their leadership. In the next day or so, we will be debating the anti-trolling bill. These are the ways that we make it safer for all MPs and senators to be able to do their jobs—particularly women, because, in the online space, the hateful, disgusting, disgraceful abuse that is sexist and misogynistic and is being aimed at women is completely unacceptable. Our government has started to act on this, but there is much, much more that we need to do, and I will be one of the people on the front line making sure we have these changes implemented.

See this speech in context