Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased speak on the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025. I think that one of the best campaigns I have seen in relation to industrial relations in the last decade was the campaign done by the SDA, the Shoppies union, which was called No One Deserves A Serve. In fact, this bill could be called the 'No-one Deserves a Serve Bill' because it relates not to food and retail, which the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association has coverage of, but to public servants and those who interact with the public service. That campaign I referred to found that 87 per cent of people who worked in that industry had suffered verbal abuse, while 76 per cent received verbal abuse on a regular basis, monthly, weekly or daily. In other results, 12.5 per cent were victims of personal violence, nine per cent were spat on, 10 per cent had suffered online abuse, 17 per cent had suffered abuse of a sexual nature and 24 per cent had suffered abuse, harassment or violence referencing their race, ethnicity or cultural background. There were 6,000 people who were surveyed. That is an extraordinary degree of abuse that people who work in food and retail suffer from every day.

This particular legislation doesn't deal with them, but it does deal with those who serve our public and are known as public servants. Every Australian, whether working in retail, hospitality or the food industry, deserves to be safe at work. In recent years, Commonwealth workers have increasingly been subject to the kind of violence and abuse that I referred to that the SDA ran campaigns against for their members. They are subject to acts of violence and aggression from the public. This is simply unacceptable, and that's why the Albanese Labor government is introducing the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025. We want to make sure that Commonwealth workplaces are safer for workers and the Australian community. Now, we can do this by building arrangements and structural design. I saw that just last week during a visit to the Services Australia Ipswich office—one of the busiest in Queensland. Changes had been made to entrances and exits, there were protective screens and walls, safety procedures had been put in place and there were two full-time security guards every day. But that's not enough, sadly. This legislation will strengthen the Commonwealth's ability to protect Commonwealth employees, protecting those on the frontline, through the creation of an enforceable workplace protection order. This is similar to the kind of legislation that operates at a state level.

Violence and aggression have a devastating impact on frontline workers and their families, so it's not just about the individuals who work for our public but their families as well. In response to the horrific stabbing of an Airport West Services Australia officer, Joeanne Cassar, in May 2023—a devastating reminder of what we need to do to protect more workers—the former minister for government services and the NDIS, the former member for Maribyrnong, commissioned a review into the safety of frontline Public Service workers, the Services Australia Security Risk Management Review, conducted by the former chief commissioner of Victoria Police, Mr Graham Ashton. Forty-four recommendations were made, and we committed to implementing every recommendation of the Ashton review.

The frontline workers who will be covered are those who help the community with essential government services, like Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office, passport offices, airports and the Australian Electoral Commission. These people staff service centres and call centres across Australia. Unfortunately, they continue to face the increasing risk of violence from members of the public. It's been said before that Services Australia staff experienced 1,692 serious incidents between 2023 and 2024. The bill responds to the unacceptable situation and implements recommendation No. 17 of the Ashton review. That recommendation states:

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

It establishes a framework that authorises a person within the Commonwealth entity—that's not necessarily an individual—to apply for a state or territory magistrate court or local court, the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court to issue what will be known as a 'Commonwealth WPO' in order to protect a Commonwealth worker or workplace from threats of harm and actual harm. It means that we establish a new act of parliament, the Commonwealth Workplace Protections Orders Act, and a new scheme. The bill's crucial to mitigating some of the serious risk of harm. Ultimately, a WPO aims to prevent future violence from happening.

The bill is about making workplaces safer for the public who visit them to gain access to critical government benefits and services. It provides legal protections for workplaces and workers. It will be available to most Commonwealth workplaces and extend to anywhere a Commonwealth worker is conducting official Commonwealth work. Commonwealth workplaces include those pop-up offices we see at service centres and shopping centres, Commonwealth service-delivery vehicles and a Commonwealth worker's residence when working from home, which is so critical because so many people work from home. This is very important in an electorate like mine because we have pop-up services in country towns in the Somerset region from time to time. This bill will cover those workers who do that kind of work.

The bill enables an authorised person to apply to the court, as I said. The definition of 'personal violence' is designed to include acts of violence, harassment, intimidation, threats of harm and other harmful non-physical violence such as abuse that is verbal, over the phone or via email. This definition is akin to the definition of 'domestic and family violence' in the Peace and Good Behaviour Act at the state and territory level, so there's a history of jurisprudence. I would hope and expect courts will take note of precedence and prior cases in this area in terms of making a decision.

On application, a Commonwealth state or territory court could make an interim or a final WPO. Under urgent circumstances, an urgent protection order can be made. In order to issue a WPO, a court would need to be satisfied that the respondent has engaged in personal violence in relation to Commonwealth workers or individuals in their Commonwealth workplace, there's a real risk that the respondent will engage in further personal violence if an order is not made, and the order is necessary or desirable.

It's so similar to the kinds of things that I used to do when I was practising as a family lawyer many years ago. I've seen many of these types of cases, so I'm very pleased to see this type of legislation applying to Commonwealth workplaces and Commonwealth workers. In this context, 'Commonwealth worker' covers employees of Commonwealth entities—which is critical, because not everyone works for a Commonwealth department—under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act, including Services Australia, the Australian Taxation Office, Veterans' Affairs, Australia Post and ministerial and electorate offices.

It is absolutely vital that we protect our staff who work in electorate offices and who go out with us each and every day. They serve the public, just as people in Medicare offices and Services Australia do. No person in this chamber could do their work without the wonderful staff working for them. I thank them each and every day for what they do, what they have to put up with—the number of phone calls they get where people are angry and disappointed or frustrated, and the number of times that people ring up and have got suicidal ideation or thoughts and challenges. The breadth of the legislation and ministerial responsibility that our staff deal with each and every day—and they themselves are captured and covered by this legislation. I'm so very pleased that's the case.

Any court will have to consider the personal circumstances of a respondent when determining the conditions attached to the order, but they do conditions to protect, and there is a great deal of breadth in those conditions. I saw that personally when I was practising as a lawyer for nearly a quarter of a century, before coming here. I saw the kinds of orders and the breadth of the orders that courts make. It will allow either party, for example, when that term or period of time is over or, indeed, when the risk is not there, to make an application to vary or revoke that order, if it's needed in the circumstances. There can be additional conditions in terms of the length of the time. We don't expect that a final WPO will exceed two years, and it can't be made against a person under 14 years of age.

This bill addresses a legislative gap in most state and territory protection schemes which doesn't cover public service. It will enhance the personal privacy of Commonwealth workers, and it's important in terms of strengthening their workplace health and safety protections.

Last week, I had an opportunity to visit the newly transformed Ipswich service centre for Services Australia. We learnt much more about the enhanced security arrangements they put in place in response to the Ashton review. It was an opportunity to hear how they have sought to modernise their services by introducing new and better ways to service customers and make it easier for customers to access support and, therefore, reduce the frustration. Some of the innovations at the centre include updated self-service facilities and kiosks; increased support and training for customers to access digital services, including digital coaching appointments and bring-your-own-device options; and referrals to specialists and other government services.

I want to thank services centre manager Jenny and her staff, and all the Services Australia workers for their fantastic work, particularly for their efforts to slash the backlog of Centrelink and Medicare claims in recent years. It was a great opportunity to meet with some of the new recruits who are part of the government's staffing boost of 3,000 frontline service workers across the country, hired to process critical claims and get the waiting times down. This is such important work, and it will help people with more financial services and support to deal with the cost-of-living pressures that they're under. These workers deserve a safe and secure environment free from threats of harm. They do not deserve a serve at work.

I support this legislation; it's absolutely vital. I want to thank the Minister for Home Affairs for bringing forward this bill. I spoke on this bill previously, in the previous parliament. It lapsed with the proroguing of parliament, but I am pleased that the Minister for Home Affairs has brought forward this bill and pleased for the support last term from the former minister for government services and former attorney-general for the original legislation reforms. I thank everyone who has contributed to its development through the consultation process. I thank the CPSU, the union covering Commonwealth public servants, for their support, and all the other stakeholders who were consulted in the development of this legislation.

I call on the parliament to do the right thing and support these critical measures. They will improve workplace safety for frontline Commonwealth workers and make our Commonwealth workplaces safe for all Australians who use them. I commend the bill to the House.

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