Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf on behalf of the Standing Committee on Education and Employment, I present the committee's report incorporating a dissenting report entitled Workplace Bullying: We just want it to stop, together with the minutes and proceedings and evidence receiving by the committee. As you can see it is quite extensive.

Ordered the report be made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—The Productivity Commission estimates that workplace bullying costs the Australian economy between $6 billion and $36 billion annually. The human costs are enormous. People's health—both physical and mental wellbeing—productivity and personal lives suffer immeasurably when subjected to bullying.

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon. Bill Shorten, referred the inquiry to the committee in June to examine the nature, causes and extent of workplace bullying and consider ways to address bullying cultures and prevent their development in the workplace.

The committee received over 300 written submissions—the majority from individuals recounting personal experiences of bullying—and from organisations and experts who have extensive knowledge and experience either in assisting those who have been bullied at work or educating employers on how to prevent and manage this issue. The committee travelled to all states and territories to hear heart-rending stories of resultant ill-health, financial strain, loss of self-esteem and suicide as a direct consequence of workplace bullying. Bullying has devastating and long-lasting impacts on affected individuals and their loved ones as well as on our community. No-one should feel unsafe at work, be pushed out of their job, or feel that their life is in peril by remaining in a toxic work environment.

The inquiry was announced amidst a nation-wide harmonisation process of work health and safety legislation—the primary area of regulation of the risks of bullying at work. Harmonised work health and safety laws have now been adopted in all jurisdictions, with the exceptions of Victoria and Western Australia. In addition to this harmonisation effort, governments, unions and employer groups are working to develop a nationally consistent code of practice on managing the risks of bullying. The committee supports the code and hopes to see it expedited and promoted, with guidance materials for employers that detail appropriate responses to and outcomes for reports of workplace bullying. The committee also recommends the introduction of regulations setting a minimum standard of action that must be taken to minimise bullying in the workplace, to establish employers' clear obligations.

Although the committee learnt Australia is considered an international leader in best practice by taking a risk-management approach to workplace bullying, there is still much to do.

The inquiry considered the extent to which Brodie's law in Victoria—an amendment to the Crimes Act brought about to ensure greater sanctions against workplace bullying behaviours—should be nationalised. The committee encourages state and territories to collaborate and ensure their criminal laws are as extensive as Brodie's law so that there is a clear message across Australia that bullying in the workplace is a serious issues.

We must not let bullying get to the point endured by Brodie Panlock. Our report subtitle, 'We just want it to stop', was a constant refrain from targets. Prevention and early intervention are critical to ensure that we reduce the human toll of bullying in the workplace.

Our report contains 23 recommendations that focus on practical solutions we believe will help incidences of bullying in Australia's workplaces. First, there is a lack of clarity about what does and does not constitute bullying behaviour. We support the national adoption of the definition of workplace bullying as repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or workers that creates a risk to health and safety.

Witnesses spoke repeatedly of confusion about where to go for help, and frustrations with different laws and regulations operating in each jurisdiction. People who are bullied do not have recourse to antidiscrimination laws unless the bullying falls under protected attributes such as race, sex and age. Similarly, industrial relations laws are restricted in dealing with bullying. The committee also heard that workers compensation laws do not provide an easy avenue for redress.

For these reasons we recommend that the Commonwealth government establish a one-stop shop—a national advisory service to provide advice, assistance and resolution services to employers and workers. The committee also recommends that a feasibility study be undertaken on the establishment of independent investigation as well as an adjudicative process for individual recourse for individuals affected.

I thank all of those who provided evidence to the inquiry, particularly the many individuals who courageously relayed their stories. I would like to thank my committee colleagues for the work they put into the report, and also the secretariat support staff—in particular, Lauren Wilson, Stacey Tomley and Sara Edson. This is an important issue, and I commend the report to the House. (Time expired)

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the report, Workplace bullying: we just want it to stop. The coalition members—that is, the member for McPherson, the member for Aston and myself—broadly support many of the recommendations within the report. We reject the notion, however, that bullying in the workplace is normal and that we can afford to ignore the issue. We support from the outset the need for the common definition that was outlined in one of the earliest recommendations in the report.

We have chosen to put in a dissenting report, because there were a small number of recommendations that we felt we were unable to endorse. I would like to particularly thank the government members for their cooperation in working their way through what has been a very challenging inquiry indeed. We had 319 submissions, and many of those came from people who have identified themselves as victims of workplace bullying. Of course, we had no way of ascertaining the veracity of those claims, but certainly the human tragedy of people dealing with multiple issues in their life that they believe originated in the workplace is not to be understated. I particularly thank them upfront for revealing that part of themselves to the committee, because I think it gave a very human perspective to what it was we were trying to talk about.

Interestingly, during the inquiry bullying was often compared to having a guard missing from a machine. But it is much more complex than that, because if a guard is missing from a machine it is quite obvious that the guard is missing. It is a much harder thing to actually identify bullying in the workplace when it may occur behind closed doors or between two individuals who have different thresholds to things that may be said. So it is a very difficult issue for us all to deal with.

The coalition members, as I said, supported most of the recommendations, but we were concerned that we not endorse another raft of compliance and regulation on employers who are already struggling in this area and may already be exemplary employers. If we then place regulatory requirements upon them when they are in fact already ticking all the boxes, that would be a concern. Those are some of the reasons we have pulled back in a couple of areas.

As I said, there were 319 submissions. It occurred to us that it was unlikely we would see businesses and individuals coming forward if they were working in a good, positive environment. So we could not ascertain the level at which workplace bullying is operating in Australian workplaces, but certainly there was enough evidence to say that there is an issue out there. In particular, we were opposed to recommendation 5, calling for the establishment of regulations to force employers to meet a code of practice that is still under negotiation. We believe that code should first be established and have a chance to work before we overstep the mark in this area. We are also opposed to recommendation 23, which is calling for the right of recourse. We are unconvinced that this would be a positive move because, as the name of the report says, we just want it to stop. It seems to me that, when we come to the point of recourse, the relationship with an employer has completely broken down and it is not about just getting it to stop; it is about trying to get some retrospective justice.

In that sense, we felt that broadening the right of recourse is likely to lead to more antagonism in the workplace. The thing that we do not want to see is a division within workplaces, to see that being a source of confrontation. We need to sell the positive message about what a better place it is to employ people—why it is better for the workers and for the employers to have a workplace which is cooperative and considerate of people's feelings.

I too would particularly like to thank the secretariat for the very hard work that they put in through this inquiry. I would like to thank all those who contributed and I would like to thank the government members for their cooperation.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the member for Kingston wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a later occasion?

Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour this day.