Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025. This is the second piece of legislation to come before this parliament in the wake of the horrific attack on a Services Australia employee who was just doing her job. A public servant going about her day, doing a job, like public servants in every part of our country do, was punched in the face and stabbed in the back, leaving her with life-changing injuries. This is appalling. No Australian should be attacked at work. So, when former Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton made recommendations, following a review of security arrangements at Services Australia and in all Commonwealth workplaces, we took them very seriously. One of those recommendations led to the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Commonwealth Frontline Workers) Bill 2024. This was a bill to expand the criminal offences for assaulting a frontline worker employed by the Commonwealth. The coalition supported the bill and passed it through the parliament on a bipartisan basis.

Another one of those recommendations in the Ashton review led to this bill that we're considering today. As the Minister for Home Affairs said when reintroducing this bill—and we acknowledge his comments on the need for this and the constructive approach that all sides of politics have taken to this legislation—there were more than 1,700 serious incidents at Services Australia between July 2023 and July last year. All of us in this place know that Services Australia employees are not the only ones to face these threats. It is also the employees in the embassies, the contractors and subcontractors on our defence bases, private security guards routinely found on Commonwealth premises, officers of the Australian Federal Police and, indeed, the staff in our own electorate offices. As recently as May 2025, two Australian Border Force contractors were assaulted and stabbed while at work.

The potential risks faced by Commonwealth workers are not just limited to Services Australia; they are also linked to the broad definition of the term 'Commonwealth worker'. We believe that is appropriate. This broad definition means that the orders will be able to protect Services Australia employees, Australian Federal Police, contractors, security guards, volunteers and electorate office staff. This approach is sensible, and it warrants the support of this chamber. In terms of the substance of the protection orders, the bill will also allow a court to direct a person not to attend a particular Commonwealth workplace, not to go near an affected worker and to comply with other appropriate conditions. Only a court can make such an order, and it must be cancelled if the grounds for the order cease to exist. To make this type of order, a court must be satisfied that a person has engaged in personal violence or made threats of personal violence and that there is a real risk that the person will engage in further violence if the order is not made.

This legislation came before parliament last term, and we indicated at the time that we would support the bill after a quick committee inquiry. That committee inquiry was handed down on a bipartisan basis with a recommendation for minor changes. It otherwise supported the legislation. The legislation passed the House on 28 August this year with bipartisan support, and the coalition is pleased to facilitate the swift passage of this bill through the Senate today.