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

I move:

That this bill may proceed without formalities and be now read a first time.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

by leave—I move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the bill, allowing it to be considered during this period of sittings.

I table a statement of reasons justifying the need for this bill to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statement incorporated into Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

Purpose of the Bill

The Bill would establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) as a complaint and investigation framework to enforce the Behaviour Code for Parliamentarians, Behaviour Code for Parliamentarians' Staff and Behaviour Standards for Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (the Codes), which were adopted on an interim basis by both Houses of the Parliament in February 2023. The Codes cannot formally commence until the IPSC is established.

Establishing the IPSC would advance the Government's election commitment to implement recommendations of the Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces.

Reasons for Urgency

Passage of the bill in the 2024 Spring sittings is required to ensure the IPSC can commence work as soon as possible in 2024, allowing time for its recruitment and establishment. Commencement of the IPSC is a precondition to final adoption of the Codes as the IPSC will have an enforcement function for the Codes.

The IPSC will give confidence that Commonwealth parliamentary workplace participants will be held to account for conduct that breaches the Codes. This is critical to supporting improved culture within these workplaces.

Question agreed to.