Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Bill 2023 will establish the statutory Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

This bill advances the government's commitment to implement recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission's Set the standard report directed at making Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces safe and respectful.

Implementation of all 28 recommendations from that report is a shared responsibility across the parliament, and has been overseen by the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce.

The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Bill implements recommendation 11 of the Set the standard report, which is a key structural reform. Once established, the proposed Parliamentary Workplace Support Service will carry forward work to implement another six recommendations.

The bill is the product of extensive consultation with members of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce and its staff consultation group. This recognises that the proposed Parliamentary Workplace Support Service would have functions to provide human resources and other employment related support to parliamentarians and their staff.

The Set the standard report found there was an absence of an adequate and authoritative people and culture function for parliamentarians and their staff, and a lack of standardised people management processes.

The report therefore recommended that an independent body should be established to provide a foundation for a professionalised, safe, supportive and respectful workplace.

These are objectives of the proposed Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

The proposed new entity will integrate the functions of the existing Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. Since its establishment in September 2021, that body has been a trusted source of advice and support on behavioural conduct to people who work in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

The proposed new Parliamentary Workplace Support Service would continue the support, complaint resolution and review functions of the existing service.

It is intended that the review function, which is akin to a complaint investigation mechanism, would be performed by the proposed new service pending establishment of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.

The commission is the other main structural reform recommended in the Set the standard report. It would have a main function to investigate complaints of breaches of codes of conduct which were endorsed, on an interim basis, by both houses of the parliament in February this year.

The codes introduce clear standards of behaviour to support a parliamentary workplace that is professional, safe and respectful. It is one of the functions of the new Parliamentary Workplace Support Service to provide advice on the codes.

Representatives of this parliament need to work together to get these structural reforms implemented. We have been working intensely across the parliament to bring forward this legislation to establish the new Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. As the next step, the government will move forward with establishing the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission as a priority.

The Set the standard report set out guiding principles for the new human resources entity, namely that it should:

The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Bill stays true to those principles.

The new service would be headed by an independent office holder. The bill makes clear that the Chief Executive Officer of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service cannot be directed by any person in relation to the performance of their functions or exercise of their powers. Importantly, the CEO will be able to obtain expert advice from an advisory board, and will also be able to obtain views from parliamentarians and staff whom it services, through a consultative committee.

The PWSS will have an education and training function to support parliamentarians and staff in their employment relationship. It will provide training on the codes of conduct to a broader cohort of people that work in the parliamentary workplace.

It is important that people can see that progress is being made in maintaining a professional, safe and respectful parliamentary workplace. With that aim in mind, the proposed new PWSS will report annually on key indicators of cultural change, such as gender and diversity characteristics, and progress in preventing misconduct like bullying and sexual harassment.

Where needed, the PWSS will be able to make policies and training programs mandatory. This would require the approval of the PWSS Advisory Board.

The PWSS will be able to publicly report on noncompliance with mandatory training by a parliamentarian. But, it ought to be the commitment of every parliamentarian and staff member to comply with any mandatory measures.

This bill is the product of close and extensive consultation across parliament. The government thanks parliamentarians and staff for their input.

The parliament is a unique workplace, but it is also one of Australia's most prominent workplaces. The people that work here should have the systems they need to go about their work in a professional, safe and respectful environment.

Debate adjourned.