Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Finally, this long-awaited and vital deal to set up the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission is here. It has been two years since the behaviour codes of conduct were developed and 18 months since parliament endorsed these codes, so this legislation has been a long time coming—but, of course, 'better late than never,' as they say. We all know that this place needs a desperate shift in culture. Everyone knows that. Hardly a day goes by without an example of bad or unacceptable behaviour. Intimidation, bullying, racism and sexism—I think, 'Finally, we can put it to bed,' is not robust debate, and people should just stop justifying it as such. It is vile behaviour that should not be acceptable nor tolerated in any workplace, including our own.

While developing these codes we received overwhelming evidence that the workplace culture in parliament was broken in so many ways for so many people. First Nations people, people of colour, people with disability and LGBTQIA+ people experience discrimination, microaggressions and role segregation. We should be leaders in making the safest workplace, especially for those who are most marginalised in society. Instead, it has been toxic, cutthroat, hypermasculine, whitewashed and exclusionary on multiple levels. I do thank people, especially my colleague Senator Waters, for working so hard in bringing this bill here. It is good to see a few more people speaking up against racism in this place as well.

But, honestly, it is still far too easy to fling around racism and racist commentary in here without any consequences. In fact, here's the rub. Those calling out racism are the ones who are called to order and gaslit, but the perpetrators still get away scot-free. Developing and endorsing the behaviour codes was a step forward, but implementation and enforcement of behaviour codes of conduct have been the missing pieces here. Without the enforceable behaviour codes, we are really tinkering around the edges. This bill will hopefully mean that the commission can be set up quickly, and parliamentarians will be held to account for unacceptable behaviour and face real consequences for this behaviour which actually change it.

The Greens, as Senator Waters has said, are concerned with the suggested MP sanctions, which are weaker and less transparent than they should be. Senator Waters will be moving amendments to change that. This is a real problem. The real problem here is that only the privileges committees make a decision on sanctions against parliamentarians for serious breaches, without the IPSC having the power to even suggest sanctions to the committee. This seems so much like self-regulation, which has never worked. It's like Dracula being in charge of the blood bank! This is not going to improve public trust or transparency. On top of this—and I have to point this out—the make-up of the privileges committees and the complete lack of diversity on those is a real issue. They are all white. There are no First Nations people, no people of colour and no-one with a disability, as far as I can tell. So how do we expect to trust decision-making and sanctions issued by committees that are so unrepresentative when it comes to the experience of unacceptable behaviours of bullying, racism and discrimination that we all want to end?

It is really the entrenchment of power and privilege, which is unchecked, that needs to be addressed by enforceable consequences, because that is the root cause as to why this place has a toxic and harmful culture. If there is any place that needs unpacking of white privilege and white fragility, it is this place. I want to end by saying thank you to all the people—the staff past and present—who have come forward with such courage and shared their experiences and stories over and over again. It is not easy, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are here only because of you all, because you put your necks on the line, spoke out and took action. We need more people like that if we want real change in here.