Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberal Party and the coalition also welcome the 2023 annual report from the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce. Everybody deserves to feel safe and respected in their workplace. This second annual report from the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce is the health check on the work to make our Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces the safe and respectful places that they should be. This body plays an important role in ensuring that the work undertaken to implement those recommendations is done with consensus and meets the needs of our workplaces.

I'd like to also thank my fellow members of the PLT: Senators Davey, Gallagher, Farrell and Waters and the members in the other place, Ms Ley, Ms Claydon and Ms Steggall. We've worked very closely together to keep government departments focused on the implementation of these reforms. I want to acknowledge that, while we come from different parties and have different perspectives, it is always constructive in how we pursue that shared goal. This work has been done in consultation with all parts of our workplaces: parliamentarians, staff and members of parliamentary departments and government departments. Even those observers in the press gallery have rightly become part of our consultation process, because they too are a very important part of the culture in our workplaces.

As I noted last year, the work to change our workplaces has been made easier thanks to measures introduced by the previous coalition government. They include an independent and confidential complaints mechanism, which continues in much the same form today; the first PWSS; a confidential 24-hour support service; and new training and education programs. And the parliament of course made the first statement of acknowledgement, which is why this annual report is being tabled today, two years since that first report was made.

I want to acknowledge that, while there are many objectives that are still outstanding, progress has been made. First, the most significant change that the parliament has seen is the transition of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service into a statutory body. This is a very important change. It's one that reflects the implementation of the Jenkins review being done in ways that leverage what is already working. The PWSS, which has officers inside parliament and is accessible around the clock, has now been established under its own act of parliament and is completely independent of government.

However, if we're going to be honest today, we should also acknowledge that there are some delays in implementing some of the significant recommendations. We're still to see the implementation of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission, and this is a really important reform. We acknowledge the complexity that is involved—that is of no doubt—but it's certainly a challenge that we're going to have to address collectively. The work of the PLT has been extended until October this year to see that this work is done. The taskforce agrees that we haven't seen enough work done to implement the parliamentary health and wellbeing service, which is so important, particularly to our thousands of staff in this place.

I also acknowledge that many other recommendations are ongoing. For those who might read this report and can't see the haste with which changes should be implemented or feel we have slipped, I say we are entirely aware that there needs to be a constant commitment to create and keep a better culture. For instance, the fact we are, in this calendar year, seeing the parliament sit during two school holiday weeks in Queensland might sound like a small thing but it's worth considering for those families from Queensland that may have small children. Holding those extended sitting hours or excessive hours should be something that occurs as an exception rather than a rule, for those very same reasons.

For all that, we should be encouraged by our progress. I thank the independent chair of the task force, Dr Vivienne Thom; your management of our work has been exemplary. I also, like Senator Gallagher, thank the task force secretariat—in particular the long-suffering, ever-patient Tegan Johnson and Simon Arnold, who always keep us on track. I note both Simon and Tegan may well go on to bigger and better things. Please know your contribution to our workplace will always be remembered.

This parliament should serve as a model workplace. We still have work to do—we have all acknowledged that—but we should be very pleased with the progress we've made.