Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his eminently sensible comments in this regard, and this parliament will do the right thing as far as this legislation is concerned, whilst I appreciate there is a lot going on outside of this building. There are cost-of-living issues. Many farmers in my electorate are quite understandably concerned about the foreign take-up of land, with the Foreign Investment Review Board not having total scrutiny over, particularly, land that could end up in American hands via our free trade arrangements; there's no trigger point for that. There's the rollout of renewables. There are so many issues. But this is an important issue too. The Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025 is vital because we do need to protect at all costs our public servants, those Commonwealth officers, and the people who work for us parliamentarians.

When the member for Blair describes the issues that they confront on a daily basis, he is totally right. I've been a member of parliament since 2010, and increasingly, sadly, I have seen the rise of hostility, of hatred, of objectionable protests outside and indeed inside my office, particularly my main electorate office at Wagga Wagga. There are a couple of people I've actually banned from my office—one for making totally misogynous comments and one for sparking what I would almost call a riot inside my office.

Now, my staff don't have to put up with that. My staff work very hard for and on behalf of the constituents of the Riverina, and I have to say probably three-quarters of the work they do is for people who will never vote for me, who will never put a 1 beside the box for the Nationals at election time, and that is fine. Whether you are a member of a party or you're an Independent, that's all well and good as you lead up to the election. But after the election, when you get elected to this place, you are and should be a member for all people, irrespective of the way they voted. It doesn't matter. I know my staff are so loyal to the people of the Riverina and so loyal, indeed, to me. Many of my staff have worked with me for decades. I must be doing something right—or they just like to work in a salt mine! But they love the work. They love the people for whom they work. And I'm not referring to me in this instance; I'm referring to the constituents.

My electorate has vastly changed from 2010. My electorate used to take in west of Narrandera, the Coleambally and Murrumbidgee irrigation areas, Wagga Wagga and a few other towns around to get to the 100,000 voters or thereabouts. These days, the electorate has moved vastly east. It wraps around Canberra and goes right up into Whitlam. It borders Whitlam. It borders the Illawarra. It's basically Matong to Illawarra. It's vastly different—Riverina by name, not necessarily Riverina by nature. But, whilst the boundaries changed in a major realignment just at the last election, the people still have the same aspirations and the same ideals. They're good country folk and they deserve good representation.

But, by the same token, there are some people in the electorate—and it's only a very minuscule number—who push the envelope a bit too far, often during election time. I found the last election to be the worst as far as conduct is concerned, particularly by some of the other candidates but also by some of their supporters—nasty, awful, horrible comments directed not just at me but at my staff. There was one particular female candidate who dressed down one of my staff members for the attire she was wearing. This is not the way we should be conducting ourselves in regional Australia.

Our staff do need proper protections. I can remember when I took over from Kay Hull in 2010. We did not have plastic petitions or grills or anything of that sort. Whilst they were just coming in, my staff preferred that open arrangement with the constituents who came in. They didn't want to make it look as though it was a bank with the big iron bars or the big hard heavy plastic petitions separating the customers from themselves. But these days they're not just mandatory; they're necessary. I've had to put a sign up saying 'No unauthorised videoing or photography in my office' because of the number of people who come in and hold up the phone and want to video the staff. They don't deserve to be identified or exposed on some sort of stupid sovereign citizen's Facebook page.

We live in a very volatile world. We only have to think about what's going on in north-east Victoria at the moment. I mourn for the families of the slain officers—police officers who bravely go out and do their jobs each and every day, and run towards danger when most normal people would run away from danger. But, in the course of their everyday job, they've been gunned down. This is a national tragedy. Their families will never recover from this. The communities probably won't. And the rise of these mongrel sovereign citizens—that's what they are—is getting higher and higher. The incidence of these people who are antigovernment, anti-establishment, anticouncil, antipolice, anti flaming everything, is on the rise. We live in troubled times, and that is why we should, at all times, be protecting our staff.

Our staff are some of our best assets, trust me. We couldn't do our jobs without the duty, the support, the care that our staff take. We can't be in our electorate offices all the time, and they shoulder a big burden of responsibility to do the right thing by our people. And by and large they do. Not everybody who comes into my office, or any MP's office, is going to get the answers and the results they want. That's impossible. Many of the requests are far beyond the pale; they wouldn't be able to be resolved at any rate. But they try. They do the right thing. Irrespective of whether it's an NDIS issue or a Centrelink matter, our staff do a mighty job, and we should say thank you to them each and every day.

I know this particular bill responds directly to the horrific stabbing of a Services Australia employee last year. It implements a key recommendation of the Ashton review, which was led by former Victoria Police chief Graham Ashton. He and the rest of the Victoria Police family—and I do say 'family'—would be very much in mourning at the moment. That particular review examined security arrangements in Commonwealth workplaces following that particular attack. This bill follows the passage of the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Commonwealth Frontline Workers) Bill of 2024, which expanded criminal offences for assaults against Commonwealth frontline workers. Together these two pieces of legislation form a stronger framework for protecting those who serve the public.

Our public servants do a mighty job. They do. Irrespective of whether they are here in the ACT, in Canberra, where there are many, many public servants, whether they are Australian Federal Police—and aren't we lucky we've got such fine people who work in that particular organisation?—or whether they are in all the Commonwealth public offices that dot this nation, they do an incredible job. They do, and we should be very thankful. I know public servants often get criticised. It's all well and good to bag a public servant, but we are very blessed in this country to have outstanding people filling the roles that they do. The bill establishes a scheme for Commonwealth workplace protection orders modelled on state and territory apprehended and personal violence orders to provide targeted protection for Commonwealth workers and workplaces.

It's good to see that we are getting some uniformity across the nation. I know that making sure that we have things in lock step with states and territories is so difficult. It doesn't matter whether it's transport or child protection checks. Irrespective of what it is, it's so hard to get states, territories and the Commonwealth all on the one page. I don't know why, but it is. I've been a minister in many portfolios, and, sometimes, getting states and territories on board, even with policy that you would think would be a no-brainer, is so hard because they might agree at a particular forum where they all come together to discuss such things, and then one state or territory minister goes home, their cabinet decides, 'That's not for us,' and the whole thing falls down. It's a bit like a house of cards.

No Australian employee should ever fear for their safety simply for turning up to do their job. Between July 2023 and July 2024, there were—wait for this; this is an alarming statistic—1,700 serious incidents at Services Australia centres. I know a lot of people come into those particular offices stressed, not knowing which way to turn, suicidal and, in many instances, feeling as though their cause for complaint has been spurned. But, rest assured, those Commonwealth service people, those public servants, aren't there and aren't paid to be abused or assaulted. They are there to be protected, and they should be. This legislation does that. I know that the problem is much broader than Services Australia. It includes staff in embassies, and thankfully the government was able to get our brave embassy officials out from Tehran with the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador earlier this week.

The legislation also covers contractors on defence bases, and I have three military installations in Wagga Wagga. I've got the 'Home of the Soldier', Blamey Barracks, in Kapooka. I've got RAAF Base Wagga. If you spend any given time in the Royal Australian Air Force, you may well end up at Forest Hill. As the big sign emblazoned on the hangar says, 'Air power starts here,' and, indeed, it does at Forest Hill in Wagga Wagga. Even though we're a long way from the nearest drop of sea water, we have an important and strategic naval presence in my hometown. Those contractors on defence bases need protection too. I think the military personnel in those defence bases also need protection, but they can probably take care of themselves better than most because they're trained to do so. They're the best in the world at protection. Make no mistake. Our army, air force and navy people—there are no finer people at taking care of themselves, in our nation, than them.

I also mentioned the AFP earlier. I know, having been the acting Prime Minister for 101 days—I'll just add that in—and having had the benefit of AFP protection, that they are so good. Electorate office staff all face risks in the course of their duties. They shouldn't, but they do. We live in a volatile world, and we live in a world where people think these days that they can write, say and do whatever they like. The social media phenomenon has caused a lot of people to be a lot more bold and a lot more aggressive than they otherwise would've been. We know that, just in May this year, two Australian Border Force contractors were assaulted and stabbed whilst on duty. This should not be happening in the Australia that we live in. Fortunately, the number of incidents involving guns has drastically reduced since John Howard and Tim Fischer brought in, rightfully, very good restrictions on guns, and that is a good thing. That appalling incident in May 2025 underlines the urgency of providing additional safeguards across Commonwealth workplaces. I'm pleased that this particular legislation does just that, and I commend it to the House.

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