Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am proud to speak on the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025 as a former public servant. It is too little acknowledged that, without public servants, governments of any persuasion would grind to a halt. Public servants make up the majority of the executive arm of government, one of the three pillars of our democratic system. We rely on them to provide frank and fearless advice, deliver services and engage with the public. One of the most important roles of government is to act as a social safety net. As a result, public servants are dealing on a daily basis with some of the most vulnerable in our society—people in difficult and desperate circumstances. This in turn can lead to complex behaviours, aggression and even violence.

Having worked for various government departments, I understand the risks that frontline workers can face. That is why it is so important to have strong protective mechanisms in place for those workers. As people who provide vital supports, they are essential. Every day public servants serve the nation, deliver critical services and uphold the standards of the Commonwealth. They deserve to be able to do their jobs in safety, free from abuse and threats to their person. That is why the government has introduced legislation to protect the people who serve our nation.

The Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill will establish a new scheme to safeguard the men and women who deliver essential services to the Australian public. At its core, this is a bill to protect Commonwealth employees against violence, aggression or threats. Such behaviour is not only unacceptable; it is utterly appalling. That is why the Albanese Labor government is acting to ensure that the people who dedicate their working lives to serving the public can do so free from fear or harm.

When Australians walk into a Services Australia office, when they pass through a Border Force checkpoint, when they interact face to face with government staff, they are dealing with everyday people doing their jobs. People delivering essential frontline services, like all of us here, deserve to be safe at work. Yet too often that safety is compromised. Between July 2023 and June 2024 alone, there were 1,694 serious incidents across Services Australia's face-to-face service channels. That is more than four every single day. The incidents included threats, intimidation and assaults. This is not limited to Services Australia. As recently as May this year, two Australian Border Force contractors were assaulted with a bladed weapon while on the job.

Let us be clear. Violence is not acceptable in any workplace, but violence against Commonwealth workers is not just an attack on individuals; it is an attack on our institutions and on the representatives of the government who deal with the public on a daily basis. It undermines the government's ability to deliver services and support, and it cannot be tolerated. That is why, in 2023, the government commissioned the Services Australia Security Risk Management Review, better known as the Ashton review, to examine how to better protect frontline staff.

This bill was born from recommendation 17 of the Ashton review. That recommendation stated:

The current ACT Workplace Protection Order provisions should be adopted for use by the Commonwealth as a staff protection mechanism nationwide.

This stems from a shocking incident—a serious assault on a Services Australia staff member with a bladed weapon in 2023. No worker should ever face that kind of danger while serving the public. It was a wake-up call, a reminder that we must do more to care for our workers. The government responded by agreeing to all 44 recommendations of the Ashton review. This bill gives effect to protections for our Commonwealth workers, ensuring that never again will they be left without the protections they deserve. This bill makes that happen. It turns recommendations into action. It ensures that Commonwealth employees can do their jobs safely and with the confidence that their government stands firmly behind them. Where those opposite ignored the warnings and failed to act, Labor is delivering the protections that our public servants deserve.

This bill is long overdue, and it addresses a clear legislative gap in most state and territory protection order schemes. Right now, in many jurisdictions, if a Commonwealth worker is assaulted, threatened or harassed, they are left to bring an application for a protection order in their own name. That places an unfair burden on the victim, forcing them to front up the legal proceedings as individuals for what is effectively a workplace incident. Under this legislation, affected workers will no longer have to take that step. The Commonwealth itself will be able to bring an application on their behalf. This change does three important things: it protects the privacy of our workers and ensures that they are no longer publicly named in proceedings and exposed to further risks; it reduces the burden and trauma of victims being forced into the legal system to seek protection and closure; and it strengthens and safeguards our Commonwealth workers, making it clear that it is our responsibility to protect our employees as any good employer should.

The Labor Party is the party of workers, and we are the party and government that respects the Public Service. It is important that we show it and that we deliver for the people who serve our nation. That is exactly what we're doing with these workplace protections—backing our workers with actions and not just words. In the last election campaign, we saw those opposite show their disdain for the Public Service by setting an arbitrary figure of 41,000 job cuts. This wasn't based on an assessment of what it would take to implement policy or meet public need. It was based on an ideological aversion to government jobs. It is this same ideology that, over the nine years of coalition government, led to wasteful spending on labour hire companies, outsourcing to big consultancy firms and the hollowing out of the Public Service.

During the last election campaign, those opposite showed their disdain not only for the Public Service but for many working people by saying that they would end working from home for all APS employees. The coalition knew that, had they been successful at the last election and ended up implementing this policy, it would have sent a signal to the private sector that this workplace flexibility would be wound back. It revealed their belief that workers cannot be trusted unless they are under the constant gaze of management. More than that, it revealed how out of touch they are with modern workplaces and modern employees, particularly those with families and caring responsibilities. The Australian people rejected this divisive attack on public servants, knowing that it was an attack on workers who deliver Centrelink, immigration, NDIS, veterans' affairs and so many other critical supports for the community.

In practice, this bill will make it safer, fairer and more secure to work for the Commonwealth. Take a Services Australia officer who was threatened by a client after delivering difficult news about a payment. Today, that officer may have to pursue their own legal remedy, recounting the horrific details, reliving the incident and facing their aggressor in court. Under this bill, the Commonwealth would step in, protect that officer and pursue the order, sending a clear message of deterrence. When I was a public servant, I would hear horror stories from colleagues who were genuinely afraid to deliver news that a client would not accept, because of the repercussions that could follow when someone did not get the outcome they had hoped for. This was heightened by the fact that the matters they dealt with often involved the most desperate of circumstances. The stakes could not be higher, and the burden was too often carried by individual staff with little protection. I can say to my former colleagues with confidence that this bill will make a difference. This will give you the protection, reassurance and pride to do your jobs without fear. It sends a clear message that the government values you and that your safety will never be compromised simply for doing your duty. No public servant should ever fear violence or intimidation for doing their job serving the Australian people.

Debate adjourned.

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