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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I thank the President for the chance to make a statement on this important occasion. Two years ago, this parliament made a statement of acknowledgement in response to the experiences shared by too many people in this place that working in parliament was not a place where people, particularly women, felt safe, supported or respected. This followed cross-parliament support for the release of the Set the Standard report.

As a parliament we committed to do better, acknowledging that, while it should be a workplace that leads by example, it was not. At the time, a number of current and former staff and elected representatives bravely and frankly shared their experience with the then Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Kate Jenkins. These experiences highlighted many of the issues that for too long have characterised the experience of working in parliament, including gender inequality, with a lack of women in senior roles; a lack of accountability in systems for those who wanted to report misconduct; a 'work hard, play hard' culture at Parliament House, which had left some, particularly young women, vulnerable to exploitation and sexual assault; and high levels of power and discretion in relation to employment, combined with insecure employment.

Today, we once again acknowledge that we can and must do better, and reiterate our ongoing commitment to making those changes. We table the second annual report of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce, which sets out how we have progressed many of the recommendations and the work that is continuing. As per the recommendations of the Set the standard report, today's acknowledgement provides a time and place to have an annual discussion about behaviour and standards in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces. There were 28 recommendations in the report and we adopted all of them, as did the former government. We have achieved some significant progress in implementing the reforms. Thirteen recommendations have been implemented, with all other recommendations in progress, partially implemented or requiring ongoing work.

On 1 October last year, we established the statutory Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. The PWSS is an independent agency that provides human resources support to parliamentarians and staff, as well as services to a wider cohort of people, to support a safe and respectful workplace and to support complaint resolution and review functions for misconduct such as bullying and sexual harassment. This built on the important work to improve the culture of the parliament, which the service had been supporting since its establishment. The government has also delivered legislation to implement recommendations from a review of the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984. That reform modernised the employment framework for parliamentarians and their staff.

We remain focused on the work required to finalise implementation of the report's recommendations, with the establishment of the independent parliamentary standards commission, or the IPSC, a key priority for us all in this parliament. We are working hard to establish the IPSC by 1 October this year, subject to legislative passage and further discussions with all members and senators. This will be a significant piece of work. It's critical to the government and, I know, to members of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce that we get it right. The government will work through the detail of the proposed legislation with the PLT, as we did with the former Parliamentary Workplace Support Service bills. Ultimately, the final design of the IPSC will be a matter for the parliament to determine, and I look forward to working with colleagues across the parliament to land this important piece of work.

Before I conclude, I want to acknowledge the work of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce. I thank those senators and members of the House who have worked collaboratively as part of that group. I want to thank the chair, Dr Vivienne Thom, and acknowledge her work in bringing us together for these meetings, and I thank her for agreeing to stay on a little longer as we progress the work around the IPSC. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge the secretariat, who have supported the PLT for the past two years: Mr Simon Arnold and Ms Tegan Johnson. It's not always easy bringing together a diverse group of politicians, and they've been a great support to us in our shared efforts to make this place a safer, better place to work.

I'd also like to acknowledge all the members of the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce: those who sit in this chamber, Senator Hume, Senator Waters, Senator Davey and Senator Farrell; and those from the other place, Ms Sussan Ley, Ms Zali Steggall and Ms Sharon Claydon. I'm just making sure I haven't missed anybody there. It really is an example of what the parliament can do to get work done when we all put our shoulder to the wheel. I'd like to particularly acknowledge the discussions and the collaboration I've had with Senator Hume and the engagement we have out of session on these matters, and Senator Waters as well. Thank you very much. It isn't something that we can do on our own.

I know everyone is deeply committed to improving the culture and workplace experience or work experience—for our staff, in particular, but for all of us in this place. We know there's always a bit of hurly-burly in this job. We engage in combat from time to time, and it can be quite willing, but I think we also remain deeply committed to making sure that the structures, the foundations and the rights and responsibilities of staff in this place are protected through the work that we're doing on the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce. From the engagement that we've had with staff, including staff who have come back to this workplace in the time that this work has been going on, I would also acknowledge that this workplace has changed, and it has changed for the better. There's still work to be done, but I know, through the work of the PLT and from the commitment of every senator in this place, that we will continue to improve this workplace and address the issues that were identified in Set the standard.