Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following the moving and passage of government amendments, the opposition will be supporting the Parliamentary Business Resources Legislation Amendment (Review Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2024, noting that the Special Minister of State has provided undertakings to the opposition on the intention of several measures in the bill and providing briefings on their operation.

The bill represents significant changes to the framework for parliamentary business resources. The bill would amend the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017, the PBR Act, and the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority Act 2017, the IPEA Act, to respond to a number of recommendations of the independent review into the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 and the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority Act 2017 which was conducted in late 2021.

The bill contains schedules that implement recommendations 8, 11 and 23 of the review. Recommendation 8 was:

The Government consider amending the IPEA Act to expressly facilitate IPEA providing personal advice about staff use of travel resources to their employing parliamentarian and advice about parliamentarians' use of travel resources to their staff.

This change will allow for the better access and practice of correct use of expenses—in particular, giving clarity under the legislation as to who can receive this advice.

Recommendation 11 was:

The Government should consider amending the PBR Act to clarify that a former parliamentarian can apply for a ruling and IPEA can make such a ruling.

These changes will ensure that, as the scheme is now seeing parliamentarians leave the parliament who were using the resources under the PBR framework, these former parliamentarians can still access some of the benefits of IPEA's ability to make rulings after they have ceased being a parliamentarian. It is an important change that will provide these individuals with clarity if required.

Recommendation 23 stated:

The Government should consider moving the office expenses administration function to IPEA.

This recommendation is a significant change. It represents the movement of a significant amount of the management of the resources for parliamentarians from the Department of Finance to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and will mean that, for the first time since the creation of the modern resources framework, the department will no longer manage the majority of the day-to-day resourcing for parliamentarians and their offices. Such a change will require an appropriate amount of education and management to ensure staff and offices adjust to this change as smoothly as possible. The original bill proposed that this change would occur from 1 July this year, as the department advised that the most appropriate time to make the change is at the end of the financial year.

The bill will also make minor and technical amendments to the conditions of our workplace, resolve administrative issues, make technical amendments and provide some measures that will modernise the systems that support parliamentarians in their work. Noting the significance of some of these changes and the short time originally proposed in the bill to introduce them, we note the government has indicated that some of these changes will take effect from 1 July 2025. This will allow for appropriate consultation and preparation to be undertaken to ensure offices and staff adjust to the new model of resource management. We thank the minister and his office for continuing to work collaboratively on this bill and for continuing the longstanding bipartisanship on these matters.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for contributing to this debate, and I thank all members of this House for engaging on this bill in a constructive way so that we can continue to maintain that good bipartisanship when it comes to these matters of ensuring a strong and robust parliamentary business resources framework. The Parliamentary Business Resources Legislation Amendment (Review Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2024 builds on significant reforms already made in 2017 and 2018 to the administration of parliamentary work expenses. The bill reflects the government's commitment to implement the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 and the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority Act 2017. The purpose of the parliamentary business resources framework is to ensure that parliamentarians are provided with the resources necessary to undertake their parliamentary business while ensuring that the expenditure of taxpayers' funds is appropriate, transparent and accountable. It is important that the PBR Act framework remains fit for purpose. This bill will realign and reform the provision of parliamentary business resources to ensure a more efficient and client focused delivery of services to parliamentarians and their staff. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.