Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

When Joeanne Cassar set out for work on a chilly Melbourne morning in May 2023, the mother and grandmother of six had no idea her life was about to change forever.

As the 55-year-old drove to the Services Australia branch at an Airport West shopping centre that Tuesday morning, her mind was on the Biggest Morning Tea that the office was hosting and the biscuits she had personally baked and decorated. It was a normal day in a decades-long career serving the public.

Sometime that morning, a man, who Services Australia had previously identified as being a risk to workers but had no legal authority to ban, turned up at the branch. As team leader, Joeanne asked him to leave. He did. Immediately. He then came back later with a knife.

Joeanne had stepped in to cover for a security guard who was on his lunch break. When this man returned, he lunged at her, chasing her into the office. He punched her in the face and stabbed her once in the lower back, just missing her spine and kidneys, but leaving her with life-changing injuries and enduring pain.

It should never have happened. Joeanne said only yesterday: 'We should all be safe at work. We all have family we want to get back to. It took me seven days to get home. And I'm one of the lucky ones.'

All Australians have the right to feel safe, and be safe, at work.

That's why the Australian government is reintroducing the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025, to strengthen protections for Commonwealth workers, who are facing increasing acts of violence and aggression just by doing their jobs.

Joeanne's story is unfortunately not an isolated incident. Between July 2023 and July of last year, Services Australia staff faced almost 1,700 serious incidents.

These types of attacks are unacceptable. Violence and aggression have devastating impacts on workers and their families.

No-one who works on the frontline for our public service should ever be concerned for their personal safety. They all have a right to go to work and to go home safely.

This bill was previously introduced in parliament in 2024, but it lapsed when the parliament was dissolved for the 2025 federal election. I want to acknowledge the work of the former Attorney-General the Hon. Mark Dreyfus KC MP and the former government services minister the Hon. Bill Shorten in progressing the previous bill.

The Services Australia Security Risk Management Review was commissioned after Joeanne's assault. After a comprehensive review, former Victoria Police commissioner Mr Graham Ashton AM APM made 44 recommendations to increase the safety of Commonwealth workers. The government has committed to implementing all 44 of those recommendations, and this bill implements recommendation No. 17 of the Ashton review by creating a Commonwealth workplace protection order scheme.

The bill establishes a framework to enable a Commonwealth entity to apply to a court to issue a Commonwealth workplace protection order to protect a Commonwealth worker or workplace from threats of harm and actual harm. A Commonwealth worker would include Commonwealth employees and contractors, such as security guards, apprentices and volunteers.

Before issuing a workplace protection order, the court has to be satisfied that the respondent has engaged in personal violence in relation to a Commonwealth worker or the workplace, and that there is a real risk that the respondent will engage in further personal violence if the order is not made.

Personal violence means conduct that causes or threatens to cause harm or a reasonable fear of harm.

A court would be able to apply any conditions or restrictions it determined necessary to prevent any future risk of personal violence to a Commonwealth worker or workplace. Conditions could include prohibiting or restricting contact with a Commonwealth worker, prohibiting or restricting attendance at a particular Commonwealth workplace, or a restricted servicing arrangement (such as phone-only appointments) to allow ongoing service delivery as required.

These orders would be available for all Commonwealth workplaces, extending to anywhere a Commonwealth worker is conducting official Commonwealth work. This would include mobile servicing such as 'pop-up' shops in shopping centres, Commonwealth vehicles, or a Commonwealth worker's residence when working from home.

This protects workers who are working on behalf of the Commonwealth, regardless of where they are.

In circumstances where urgent protection is required, the Commonwealth entity would be able to apply to a court for an urgent interim order to ensure protections are in place as quickly as possible, ahead of a future court date to consider a final order.

A court would also be able to issue a workplace protection order by consent of the parties. Where a court considers a party to an order proceeding to have impaired decision-making ability, the bill provides that the court must not make a consent order unless it's satisfied that the person has appropriate representation.

The safety of Commonwealth workers comes first, but we also want to ensure individuals can continue to access necessary government services.

The bill ensures that, if proposing conditions that would limit the respondent's ability to access Commonwealth benefits or services, or contact their electoral representatives, the applicant is to be required to provide the court with information about alternative procedures or arrangements for how the respondent may access or obtain those benefits or services. The court would also be required to consider the personal circumstances of the respondent when determining the conditions attached to an order, and ensure that the person still has the ability to access essential public services and retain the ability to engage in political communication.

The bill would allow either party to a workplace protection order to apply to the court to vary or revoke an order. The court would be able to vary the conditions in the order and/or period for which the order is in force. This would allow flexibility where the circumstances of either the Commonwealth entity or the respondent change. The bill also provides that either party would be able to appeal a decision of the court relating to the making, varying or revoking of a final order.

The bill would allow information-sharing between the Commonwealth and enforcement agencies to ensure identified risks posed to other Commonwealth workers or workplaces can be managed, as a proactive approach in preventing further harm and to enforce workplace protection orders.

Breaching a condition of an order will be a criminal offence punishable by two years' imprisonment or 120 penalty units or both.

This penalty will act as a deterrent for noncompliance with conditions, while protecting workers from any future threatening behaviour.

The bill also requires a review three years after commencement.

The introduction of the bill sends a strong message that the government values the contributions made by Commonwealth workers and that violence and aggression towards those workers and workplaces is unacceptable. The bill creates a whole new Act and is a serious reform on worker safety.

The bill is a further step towards creating safer workplaces for Commonwealth workers, and allowing the Australian community safe access to Commonwealth government benefits and services.

The bill offers new protections to all Commonwealth workers, like Joeanne Cassar, who has dedicated her professional life to helping others.

Public servants are just that—Australians who have devoted their professional lives to serving the public.

A life of service should be honoured. It should never be scorned. It should never be ridiculed, and it should never be unsafe simply to go to work.

Every Australian worker deserves to feel safe and to be safe.

I commend this bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.