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

I seek leave to move an amendment to the motion.

Leave granted.

I move:

Omit paragraphs (2) and (3), substitute:

(2) That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) successive governments, working across the Parliament, have taken strong action to implement all 28 recommendations of Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (Set the Standard report) which was tabled on 30 November 2021,

(ii) the Government and the Parliament have taken action to implement all recommendations of the Set the Standard report, working through the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce, and recommendations from the report are now all ongoing or completed, with a review to take place 18 months after the commencement of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service,

(iii) the President referred an inquiry into recommendation 10 of the Set the Standard report to the Procedure Committee in October 2022,

(iv) the Procedure Committee presented its report in response to this referral on 12 September 2023,

(v) the Senate unanimously adopted the Behaviour Standards and Codes of Conduct for Parliamentarians and MOPS Act Staff on 10 October 2024, which commenced on 14 October 2024,

(vi) specifically, the Behaviour Standards require that people 'uphold laws that support safe and respectful workplaces, including

anti-discrimination, employment, work health and safety and criminal laws' and state that 'bullying, harassment, sexual harassment or assault, or discrimination in any form, including on the grounds of race, age, sex, sexuality, gender identity, disability, or religion will not be tolerated, condoned or ignored', and

(vii) the Parliament established a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Parliamentary Standards on 10 October 2024;

(b) reaffirms that all parliamentarians have a role to play in upholding appropriate standards of behaviour in the Parliament, including those outlined in the Behaviour Standards for Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces.