Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate notes the Safe and Respectful Workplaces Training Program (the Training Program) administered by the Department of Finance and resolves that the following procedures apply for senators to declare that they have undertaken the Training Program:

(1) Each senator who has undertaken the Training Program shall provide to the Registrar of Senators' Interests a statement declaring that they have undertaken the Training Program:

(a) within 28 days of this resolution, where the statement relates to the Senator having undertaken the Training Program prior to the date of this resolution; and

(b) within 28 days of having undertaken the Training Program.

(2) Statements shall be made in accordance with this resolution and in a form determined by the Committee of Senators' Interests. The Registrar shall, in accordance with procedures determined by the Committee, maintain a Training Program Register comprising statements provided under this resolution. Other than as specifically provided for in this resolution, the Committee has the same powers and functions in relation to the Training Program Register as it does in relation to the Register of Senators' Interests.

(3) The Registrar shall publish the Training Program Register and any alterations to the Training Program Register on the Parliament's website.

(4) Any senator who knowingly provides false or misleading information to the Registrar of Senators' Interests shall be guilty of a serious contempt of the Senate and shall be dealt with by the Senate accordingly, but the question of whether any senator has committed such a serious contempt shall first be referred to the Privileges Committee for inquiry and report and may not be considered by any other committee.

This motion relates to the Safe and Respectful Workplaces Training Program and provides procedures for senators to declare that they have undertaken training in relation to that program. I wish to place on the record the government's thanks to all parties and crossbenchers across this place and across the parliament for the constructive manner in which they have engaged in this motion as, indeed, they have engaged constructively through all stages of the response to the Foster review that was undertaken to help to provide for a better process in relation to the receipt and handling of complaints in relation to workplace bullying and sexual harassment in this place as well as the establishment of the training program. I acknowledge that many, many members of parliament and staff have already undertaken this training, and this motion will provide a clear means for members and senators to have registered, as the government indicated would occur, publicly that they have undertaken the training in accordance with those recommendations. The government looks forward to continuing to work across the parliament with all members and senators in relation to the implementation of the Foster review and also of the Jenkins review, which we expect to be released in coming days. I thank the Senate.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's very interesting timing. I thought we were going to see this motion at 12.20 pm, and the government has brought it forward to deal with it this morning. Obviously, we welcome the substance of this, but it's very convenient for the government to try to chew up time whilst it's trying to avoid a different stoush on the floor of the chamber pertaining to which private member's bill will be debated. But we'll have that debate shortly.

We are here debating the development of the parliamentary workplace support service because of brave souls like Brittany Higgins. I want to place once again on record my admiration for her courage and to say, on behalf of women everywhere, that we salute the resilience that you have demonstrated and the guts and the metal that you have shown at every turn to hold your own party to account. Your courage has ultimately led to what we're seeing today, which is training for all MPs and their staff on sexual harassment and workplace safety. We should have been doing this training anyway. This should have been mandatory from the day dot. But, thanks to people like Brittany Higgins, Dhanya Mani, Chelsey Potter and the many other brave women who have spoken out about the harassment that they've received in a political setting, we now have a formal process. My office has done the training. It's very good. It of course should be mandatory for all MPs and their staff. I understand that's not the case yet. The Greens have made it mandatory. We would urge other parties to make sure that their own people undertake this training as well.

I want to note that this is not a complete solution. People still realise that there are no consequences that will flow for MPs where those MPs are the abusers, the harassers, the rapists. Constitutionally, the Department of Finance has not been able to deal with that issue. That is still an issue that needs a resolution, because our staff know—they unfortunately perceive—that MPs are untouchable. That is not a safe workplace, is it, if the boss is the predator and can get away with it? We see staff shuffled around from office to office and the problem not really dealt with—staff just moved around. Ultimately it's those staff—generally women—who then leave. That is deeply unfair and unacceptable.

My final point is: we had a chance to fix that. We had the debate on the Respect@Work bill several sittings ago, and this government squibbed it. It did not implement that key recommendation that there be a positive duty on employers to provide a safe workplace for all of their workers. We had that chance. The Greens moved amendments for that, the opposition moved amendments for that, and this government voted them down every time. So it's a bit rich for this government to be holding out that it's somehow dealt with this situation, when it has not. There is a gaping hole at the heart of workplace protection for women everywhere—not just in parliamentary settings but in workplaces right around the country—because there still is not that legal obligation for employers to provide a safe workplace. The government needs to fix that, and, if it won't, it needs to get out of the way.

I note that the Jenkins report is due to be handed down tomorrow. We understand that the PWSS and the Foster recommendations were always meant to be an interim treatment of this matter. We very much look forward to the Jenkins report and we hope that this government will take it seriously and implement all of the recommendations, unlike the 55 Respect@Work recommendations, of which the key one was ignored. You'd better do better tomorrow, because women are watching, and we won't be placated with this partial down payment on our safety. Women deserve safety in their workplaces right across the country, with no excuses.

Question agreed to.