Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The Parliamentary Frameworks Legislation Amendment (Reviews) Bill 2026 is, for the most part, a relatively straightforward piece of legislation that seeks to address some other components of legislation, including the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Bill 2023, or the PWSS Act; the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, or the MOP(S) Act; and the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017. The legislation seeks to ensure that these pieces of legislation work in a correct and proper fashion, sufficient with the objectives designed for their purpose. The PWSS was established in 2023 and provides independent support, complaints handling and human resources advice for parliamentarians, their staff and other parliamentary workplace participants. The MOP(S) Act provides the legislative framework for the employment of staff by members of parliament and senators, including advisers and electorate staff. It sets out the authority of parliamentarians to employ staff and governs the terms, conditions and administration of those employment arrangements. And the PBR Act establishes a framework for the provision and use of public resources to support parliamentarians in carrying out their parliamentary duties. It sets out the rules for entitlements such as office expenses, travel, staff support and other resources and establishes oversight and administration arrangements through the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority. Of course all members of this parliament are familiar with those pieces of legislation and the roles they play on workplaces, staff and resources. At times it can be a complex system to navigate, with MPs, senators and staff having to deal with multiple agencies and departments in the operation of our day-to-day workplaces.

We understand the government has a view to simplify the current frameworks and systems that govern how MPs and senators work, and this is something the coalition is supportive of. It makes sense to bring forward these three statutory reviews so they can be considered as part of the government's review of the parliamentary ecosystem. It is worth noting, however, that this process follows several reviews in recent years that the government has implemented in part or are yet to be responded to. This includes the independent review of resourcing in parliamentarians' offices. The review found that parliamentarians offices are under increasing workload pressure and that current resourcing is often not sufficient to meet the modern demands of busy electorate offices. The government agreed in principle to all 10 recommendations from the review, but, as is often the case with Labor, you have to look not at what they say but at what they ultimately do.

And what did they do? Shortly after the review was released, they trashed the conventions of this parliament and sacked hardworking opposition staff, heaping more pressure on workplaces already struggling with a lack of resources. So we know full well that, despite the rhetoric of trying to support parliamentarians in their duty and upholding democratic accountability, the response from the government has been the reverse. We've seen this also, of course, in their attempts to shut down freedom of information laws, as they have done recently. Of course, thankfully, that has now been shelved after sanity prevailed in the Senate despite every single member of the government on the other side of this chamber being tainted with attempts to shut down freedom of information through legislation. It was a particularly vindictive move from this Prime Minister, who wants to entrench his control rather than actually advance the best interests of Australians and our democracy. We note that, despite the promises of transparency and accountability by this government, we have seen the complete opposite, and stripping the opposition of experienced staff impacts our ability to scrutinise the government effectively and responsibly, which is fundamental to the functioning of our democracy so that it can be sustained for future generations. So, while we support the review of the systems and frameworks that govern parliamentary workplaces, I urge the government to urgently progress the implementation of outstanding recommendations from the resourcing review and consider returning to the bipartisan resourcing of the parliament.

Finally, I understand the government is committed to consulting closely with the opposition and crossbench throughout the review period, and that is something that we ultimately welcome.

It's quite simple. The legislative framework sitting around parliamentary practices should be designed to maximise parliamentarians fulfilling their duties for their communities and in pursuit of the best interests of Australia. The current legislative framework can, of course, always be improved as any legislative framework can be improved, but the question is whether the work has been done sufficient to make sure that we get the best things forward for our country. One of the biggest limitations now on our democracy has been the deliberate acts of this government to limit the capacity of the opposition and crossbench to scrutinise the government, which only entrenches the government's position and power and undermines accountability in our democracy. This is not a healthy development for any of us, and we all hope that it sees resolution soon.

Debate adjourned.

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