Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I table two supplementary explanatory memoranda relating to the government's amendments. We will get those circulated.

I thank everyone for their contributions on this bill. It is, I think, the parliament at its best, when we come together on legislation and work collaboratively—this being in the interests of everyone who works in this building. As many of those who have contributed to the debate today have pointed out, this has come from the substantial piece of work that the former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins did into the culture of the parliament as a workplace. She released the Set the standard report, which had a number of recommendations for changes that should be made to this workplace and in our electorate offices around the country. These were to ensure that we were driving improvements, not only in the conduct but in the culture of our workplaces. I think that anyone who read that report or who was involved in those discussions certainly heard from a lot of people in this building, and from those who had left this building, about the less-than-ideal way they had been treated in this workplace. In some cases, there were extremely traumatic and life-changing experiences in this workplace.

The commitment in the Set the standard report was that we commit to the recommendations and the implementation of the recommendations. I would like to start by thanking all those people, many of them staff in this building, who came forward during the set the standards inquiry, because it was their evidence, contributions and experiences that led to the recommendations which have led to the significant change that has happened in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces. These bills are part of that response.

The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, which was recognised in the former parliament, the 46th Parliament, was up and running reasonably quickly for how things work here. I think it has been such a significant success story of appropriate support services for both parliamentarians and their staff. This package of bills seeks to strengthen that. I very much thank current and former staff who provided their personal stories, often at personal cost, to that inquiry because it is through those stories that we are standing here today debating legislation that is putting in place permanently the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.

This has been a product of extensive and close engagement with members of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce and with the task force staff consultation group. I acknowledge Senator Hume, Senator Waters, Senator Davey and Senator Farrell from this chamber—I don't think I have forgotten anybody—and from the other place Ms Claydon, Ms Ley and Ms Zali Steggall, who have been on the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce in this parliament. I also acknowledge Senator Birmingham, Mr Morton, Senator Payne and Ms Plibersek, who are not on this task force but were on the last one. It really has been a very collaborative effort across the parliament.

The 46th Parliament's Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce really grabbed the Set the standard report and put in place immediate responses and the 47th Parliament's Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce has been doing work on making sure that we continue to implement recommendations. Importantly, it has been a fantastic forum to negotiate this legislation. I also acknowledge the MPs and senators who have got involved through Senator Hume's work on the opposition side and also through work on our side. Certainly I've attended some meetings with crossbench members of parliament who have been interested and involved in this as well. In my time in this place it is a real exemplar of how to work on legislation together.

The bills before us today really do stay true to the guiding principles in the Set the standard report for a new human resources entity to support the employment relationship between parliamentarians and their staff. The new PWSS will play a key role in advancing the professionalism of that relationship. A significant distinction from the existing arrangement is that the new PWSS is independent and cannot be directed by any person in the performance of its function or exercise of its power.

Furthermore, consistent with the theme in Set the standard, the new Parliamentary Workplace Support Service will have functions concerned with making Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces safe and respectful. It is imperative that we can all see progress being made on that front—and I genuinely think there has been during my time in this place, but there is definitely more to be done. It is why the new Parliamentary Workplace Support Service will be required to publish annual reports covering the culture of the workplace, as well as progress in preventing workplace misbehaviour.

As we've heard, the parliament is a unique and prominent workplace. People who work here should have the systems they need to go about their work in a professional, safe and respectful environment. The Members of Parliament (Staff) Amendment Bill 2023 complements the PWSS Bill package by modernising the employment framework for parliamentarians and their employees. It implements recommendations from the review of the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act undertaken by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet last year. That review in turn implemented recommendations of the Set the standard report. The bill clearly sets out the responsibilities of parliamentarians and employees under modern workplace laws, including employment principles, to set expectations of the workplace. The bill will provide greater clarity and certainty for both MOP(S) Act employees and parliamentarians. Together with the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service bill package, these bills are important reforms for the Commonwealth parliamentary workplace.

Before closing, I thank very much the members of the Jenkins reform team, who have been working on this. We are very fortunate to have such skilled and talented public servants who have really led the way through not only putting this bill together and getting it into the shape it needs to be but the consultations that have happened so broadly in putting together this package of legislation and pushing forward on the Jenkins recommendations overall. The responsibility of government is highly valued in terms of their advice to me. I have seen the amount of work they have put in to this, and I would like to extend my appreciation and thanks for their continued work as we move to the IPSC, or the independent parliamentary standards commission, which I note a number of senators have spoken about today.

In relation to the comments around delays I would say this. We consulted with Kate Jenkins, as we formed the 47th Parliament, on how we'd progress some of her recommendations. There was an acknowledgement from her that in her timing of recommendations she hadn't accounted for the election period and the change of government and all that comes with that. She was comfortable that the PLT was progressing the recommendations in good time. I think the PLT also had a discussion about how to land the PWSS legislation before proceeding to the IPSC as both were significant pieces of work and we wanted to make sure that we were able to progress them in an orderly way, which is the decision. The responsibility there was to get the PWSS legislated and up and running as soon as we could. The work on the IPSC has been going alongside but it will really start now that this legislation has passed the parliament. The PLT has a principles based document that we're considering at the moment, but everyone should be very clear that that is the next big piece of work that we've got to work through.

We accept that this is a big structural change to this parliament and that people have views about it. So part of the work that Senator Hume and I have been doing is to give colleagues within our organisations the opportunity to be involved. I would prefer, frankly, that we take the time to get things right, which I think we've done with the PWSS. We have some amendments to work through in committee stage, but we've done that. We've been negotiating this bill right up until it's here before you today; I hope we can engage in the same process for the IPSC. I don't see it as a lack of any desire to get these recommendations dealt with. These are new bodies. We need to make sure that we get them right and that people feel consulted in the process. I would just make those comments in closing.

I know we have a few amendments to get through in the committee stage. I really thank Senator Hume very much. We decided early on that we wanted to work together on this and move as one if we could, even though there were areas where perhaps there was opportunity for disagreement. We've done that. We've worked through it, and I look forward to working with her on the IPSC—or maybe she's not looking forward to it—but we are committed to it and we are going to do that. I would like to thank the staff in our offices who have worked really hard on this. Senator Hume, in your office and certainly in mine, we've had a number of staff that have worked tirelessly in between the Public Service and the chamber part of the business to get this legislation here today. I acknowledge them and thank people for their contributions and the ability to get this bill dealt with during this sitting fortnight.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a second time.