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 Frameworks Legislation Amendment (Reviews) Bill 2026 would amend the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Act 2023, known as the PWSS Act, the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, known as the MOP(S) Act, and the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017, known as the PBR Act, to allow the forthcoming statutory reviews of these acts, each of which is required to be conducted during the 48th Parliament, to be combined as part of a holistic review of the systems and frameworks that govern Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

The bill would also align the frequency of future periodic reviews of the PWSS Act and the PBR Act to allow them to be combined or conducted separately.

The parliamentary ecosystem comprises a nexus of legislative frameworks governing the provision of resources to parliamentarians, the employment of their staff and the services and supports to enable parliamentarians to perform their democratic role. The administration of these frameworks is the responsibility of a number of entities, with support provided to parliamentarians and their staff across the country.

The PBR Act established the legislative framework for the provision and use of public resources by parliamentarians in connection with their parliamentary business.

The provision of staff to assist parliamentarians with their parliamentary business is governed principally by two acts: the MOP(S) Actandthe PWSS Act. The MOP(S) Act establishes the legislative framework for parliamentarians and officeholders to employ people on behalf of the Commonwealth. The PWSS Act established the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, known as the PWSS, to provide centralised human resources and other employment related support to parliamentarians and their staff. The PWSS Act later established the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission, known as IPSC, to independently and impartially investigate conduct in breach of the parliamentary behaviour codes.

Since 2016-17 significant reforms have fundamentally reshaped the parliamentary ecosystem, including:

Set the standard: report on the independent review into Commonwealth parliamentary workplacesSet the standard

The implementation of Set the standard further led to:

A holistic review of the systems and frameworks that govern Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces

Review of the progress of implementation of Set the standard reforms and the statutory reviews of the PWSS Act, MOP(S) Act and PBR Act are due within the current parliamentary term:

Combining these reviews within a broader review of the systems and frameworks that govern Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces provides an opportunity to examine how the recent reforms are maturing in a holistic way—in particular, to ensure the ecosystem and its supporting legislative frameworks continue to be fit for purpose and accord with community expectations.

Incorporating the PWSS Act, MOP(S) Act and PBR Act statutory reviews within the broader review of the systems and frameworks that govern Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces will enable an integrated examination of these statutes. This approach will remove the risk of contradictory outcomes and reduce 'review fatigue' for parliamentarians and their staff.

However, the existing legislated timeframes prevent a contemporaneous review:

The bill will amend the PWSS Act, MOP(S) Act and PBR Act to allow these reviews to be combined as part of the broader review of the systems and frameworks that govern Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces, which will be able to commence as soon as possible from 23 March 2026.

Alignment of future statutory reviews of the PWSS Act and PBR Act

Review of the PWSS Act within the 48th Parliament is timely and appropriate, given this government's substantial reforms to Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces in its first term. However, a statutory review every parliamentary term will deliver diminishing benefits following the inaugural review and will not allow sufficient time for the implementation of any prior review recommendations and maturing of associated changes to administration before a subsequent review must be conducted.

The bill will therefore amend the PWSS Act to extend the frequency at which its periodic statutory review must occur—from each parliamentary term (as currently), to as soon as practicable from 23 March 2031, and every five years thereafter.

The PBR Act already requires a statutory review every five years, from 2 August 2022. The bill will make minor amendments to this provision to align the timing of future PBR Act reviews with future PWSS Act reviews. That is, the bill will require ongoing PBR Act reviews to be conducted as soon as practicable from 23 March 2031 and every five years thereafter, rather than each fifth anniversary of 2 August 2022. This will provide future governments the flexibility to combine the statutory reviews of the PWSS and PBR acts or to conduct them separately.

Conclusion

In summary, this bill will enable the statutory reviews of the PWSS Act, PBR Act and MOP(S) Act to be conducted as part of the broader review of the systems and frameworks that govern Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces, which will consequently be able to commence from 23 March 2026. The bill will also align the timing of the future periodic reviews of the PWSS Act and the PBR Act to allow them to be conducted concurrently, combined or separately. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.