James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Human Rights Commission Legislation Amendment (Selection and Appointment) Bill 2022 as per the member for Berowra's position. We in the opposition are supporting the passage of this bill. It has been outlined what the bill achieves through putting in place some statutory measures around appointments, a merit based system of appointments, in a structured and statutory way within the act, which we believe will restore an accreditation to the national human rights institutions body, as has been foreshadowed in previous contributions.

I would like to just make sure that this bill is not in any way a reflection on people who have been appointed to the Human Rights Commission under the existing provisions and that this change is not in any way seen to be a criticism of people who currently hold or have previously held office at the Human Rights Commission. The member for Berowra mentioned appointments made by the previous government, and I endorse his comments.

I'd particularly like to take the opportunity to thank the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, for the work that she does and has done, particularly the body of work that she did in the previous parliament around this workplace, because we really owe her an enormous debt of gratitude for that and the opportunity it provides us to change this place. I was surprised and very disappointed at some of the elements of that report into the parliament as a workplace. I think everyone in this chamber would share that perspective, particularly those who are new to the chamber and weren't here when that body of work was undertaken. There are a lot of people who have had different experiences with this building over the years, serving as members of parliament or staff members or political volunteers et cetera. A lot of people have had interaction with this place. It should set the highest standard for any workplace in the rest of our nation, and people should look to the parliament with pride as to as how we are respectful and provide a respectful workplace, although the people here won't agree. We shouldn't agree. We should disagree. We should have good debates in this chamber and in the other fora that are presented to us within this building, because we're engaging in a contest of ideas and we're talking about the future of our nation. It's vitally important that we have debates and discussions and bring different perspectives to those processes in this building. But it is equally important that the people who serve here, and the people who work for the people who serve here—not just staff members but the people who are engaged in a whole variety of ways to support this building to function—know that they are coming to serve in a safe and respectful workplace.

Disappointingly there were submissions to that process that Kate Jenkins undertook that clearly demonstrated that, for a long period of time, in some cases that hasn't been the case. That is appalling and completely unacceptable, and we should make whatever changes are necessary—and we will, obviously, as a parliament, and we already have done things. But we should do absolutely anything we need to to make sure that we are safeguarding this building and this workplace as a place that is safe and respectful to everyone who is here. I really do thank commissioner Jenkins for that process. I thought it was very thorough and inclusive. Everyone had the opportunity to participate in providing confidential feedback and submissions into that process. I think she ran a very respectful process that made people feel comfortable and safe in sharing their experiences and bringing forward not only things that had not been pleasant, but also things that had, and also constructive proposals to how we could make changes based on those experiences. She developed an excellent report and some of the elements of that have already been put in place, and others will be in the near future.

I think the most important thing about it—and I believe that I have noticed in the last 18 months or so that this has been something that we've heavily engaged in as a topic—which no legislative change or rule change can bring about, is a culture change in this building. I believe that I have noticed that there's a culture change in some subtle ways as well as some clearer ways. I think it is an excellent thing that a spotlight has been shone on the need to ensure that the workplace here in this parliament is safe and respectful, and that came about because of the work of Kate Jenkins, so I pay tribute to her and other people who have been appointed to the Human Rights Commission.

I don't believe that this legislation should in any way be seen as a criticism of people who have already served and been appointed prior to these changes being brought about, but I am equally very happy to support these changes to increase the robustness. We in the Liberal Party are very much in favour of meritocracy and merit based appointments. Perhaps I could suggest to the government that you don't only need to a have good, strong merit based approach to appointments to the Human Rights Commission, but in all of the appointments that you're making as an executive you might choose to reflect on running a particularly similar process to the one that's outlined through this legislation—advertising of roles, having a robust process in place to select the best candidate for any appointment that you get to make as a government.

Clearly we will have bipartisan support to these changes, which achieve the objective of ensuring that we are seen on the international stage to have the very best and most robust Human Rights Commission that meets all of those international tests that are put in place for the membership of the peak body and also that all Australians can have a confidence in. With those brief words, I commend the bill to the House.

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