I am very pleased to rise to speak on this bill. After years of advocacy from many corners of this country, we are finally seeing laws that establish a robust Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission. It’s been a long time coming. When I was first elected to parliament in 2019, I, like others, was shocked to learn there was no code of conduct for members of parliament and a complete lack of accountability for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff who breached the most basic workplace behaviour standards.

Across the hospitals and universities that mark many years of my career, the high professional standards expected of me and my colleagues had always been clear. As a nurse and an academic, I could see how codes of conduct and independent complaints procedures offset the risk of power imbalances and harmful workplace environments from forming. These exist for judicial officers, journalists, barristers and medical professionals. Codes of conduct for parliamentarians also exist in many other democracies: Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This workplace, the Australian parliament, should be no exception.

Like many Australians, I was appalled by the behaviour of some elected representatives that would not be tolerated in other workplaces—behaviour that, in the absence of clear standards and, importantly, enforcement mechanisms, has been allowed to fester: excessive alcohol consumption within parliamentary offices; unashamedly hosting political fundraisers with major donors inside this building; the use of taxpayer funded flights used for holidays, sport events or to host private fundraisers; and, of course, the terrible, traumatic, unacceptable rates of bullying, sexual harassment and even sexual assault. These are all examples of unethical, toxic behaviour that should not be accepted in any workplace, let alone in the workplace of representatives who must uphold the highest standards expected of public life and of elected office. These are behaviours that have gone on without any consequences for too long or have become another rolling news headline.

But these aren’t unsubstantiated rumours within the Canberra bubble or media reports that haven’t gone anywhere. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Set the standard report into Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces in 2021, led by Kate Jenkins, clearly found an unacceptably high number of people, in particular women, experiencing bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplace settings.

We all know the grave impacts of this. Even before the Jenkins review, I sat with brilliant people who came to me to tell their stories of their experiences in this place—people full of potential who had come here to contribute to their country, who then had to deal with the consequences of a culture which enabled harm and were then disbelieved and sidelined when they tried to speak up about that abuse or about unethical behaviour that they had witnessed. I thank those people and the many people who came forward subsequently for their bravery. It’s their actions that sparked us to progress reforms like this one.

As an MP with staff that I’m responsible for, I do not want them to feel threatened or experience harm in their workplace. As an MP who, every single sitting week, hosts in parliament volunteers from my electorate and interns from universities, I want their time here to be a catalysing moment that shapes their lives, not one that casts a long shadow.

Those who have come forward with their experiences undoubtedly set the wheels in motion for reform, and I want to acknowledge the many people who then listened to them and championed their cause. I want to acknowledge the work of my predecessor, the first Independent member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, who in 2018 brought a parliamentary standards bill to the parliament. I then followed this work with my own parliamentary standards private member’s bill in 2020. That was introduced alongside my bill for a federal integrity commission.

Once again we are seeing a bill before parliament that has received consensus support, just like the one for the National Anti-Corruption Commission, after the hard work and relentless advocacy of many, especially the Independents on the crossbench.

I want to particularly acknowledge the work of Kate Jenkins and the Australian Human Rights Commission. This Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission implements one of their final outstanding recommendations. When they were writing their report back in 2020, I was pleased to share detailed information about my own private member’s bill with them, and I thank them for listening to me and for their vital work in reforming this parliament’s workplace culture.

I want to thank the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce, which includes representation from across the political spectrum. They worked hard to reach agreement on this bill, despite political differences. I thank the work of the staff consultative group, which includes a member of my own staff. It’s important that everyone who works in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces has had say on this bill.

I also acknowledge the work of the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards, led by the Deputy Speaker, the member for Newcastle. I thank her for her leadership and outstanding contribution. The committee has been particularly instrumental in formulating the behaviour standards and the code, and I thank them all for their work.

Even though this bill directly impacts those who work in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces it is vitally important to those who exist outside the Canberra bubble. It is, of course, voters, everyday Australians, who expect their representatives in parliament to uphold their values and to behave to the highest standards, even if those standards might seem like basic professional conduct. Unfortunately, this expectation of the Australian public has not been met for some time. It is the scandals and more that are chipping away at the trust Australians have in government, in democracy and in all of us here in this place.

According to Transparency International’s 2023 corruption perceptions index, Australia’s rating has dropped 10 points since 2012. There are many factors that we can attribute to the worsening perception of corruption in Australia’s public sector—pork barrelling, jobs for mates, lack of accountability for serious corruption—but the poor behaviour, the unethical behaviour, seemingly without consequence, of elected representatives is without doubt a key contributor to Australians’ failing trust. If we, as parliamentarians, want the trust of the Australian people, if we want them to trust in government and in democracy, we have to show that bad behaviour won’t be swept under the rug, that there are consequences and that we are holding ourselves accountable.

There are many reasons why the Jenkins report is called Set the standard, because we must set the standard in this workplace and demonstrate that to the nation. This bill is a significant step towards achieving that. The bill will establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission to enforce behaviour codes and apply sanctions for parliamentarians, parliamentary staff and others working in the parliamentary setting. These behaviour codes set clear standards for behaviour and consequences when MPs and staff do not meet those standards. They were endorsed by both houses of parliament in 2023. They include basic yet fundamentally important standards that parliamentarians and their staff must comply with. These include: to act respectfully, professionally and with integrity; to recognise your power, influence, authority and do not abuse them; to have a shared responsibility as employers and leaders in the community to ensure parliamentary workplaces meet the highest standards of integrity, dignity, safety and mutual respect; a prohibition on bullying and harassment, sexual harassment and assault and discrimination; and the requirement to cultivate respectful and inclusive workplaces.

The Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards heard from many witnesses who made it clear these codes would not be able to drive the long-term cultural change that is needed unless there is confidential, independent and serious investigative body with an effective sanctions regime, and this is what the bill before us ultimately attempts to achieve. Under the bill, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commissioner would have powers to receive and investigate complaints against parliamentarians and staff. There are important safeguards, including that the commissioner can decide not to investigate a complaint if it is frivolous, vexatious or may be dealt with by another appropriate body. For parliamentarians, a panel of three commissioners would make decisions about whether that parliamentarian has engaged in misconduct. They could impose a less serious section such as a reprimand, training requirement or behaviour agreement. If they believe a more serious sanction is warranted, such as a fine, discharge from a committee or suspension from parliament, they would have to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee, and I will address this more in a moment. For staff, a single commissioner would make the decision whether they have engaged in misconduct and make a recommendation to the relevant employing parliamentarian about an appropriate sanction. If a respondent or a claimant wants to review any of the commission’s decisions, this review would be conducted by a panel of three commissioners.

The bill reflects key elements of my own private member’s bill to ensure the independent commissioner conducts investigations with appropriate safeguards to protect rights to procedural fairness, rights to privacy and the protection of personal reputation. The bill also sets up appropriate oversight mechanisms in the creation of a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Parliamentary Standards. This committee would have important functions to protect the independence of the commission, such as the appointment of commissioners, and would also be responsible for undertaking a review of the behaviour codes.

I also note the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce agreed to a review of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission itself 18 months after the commencement of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Services, and the government had budgeted for such a review. It is important to make sure these new bodies are operating as they should and to make any necessary adjustments.

Now, I want to briefly address any concerns that by holding parliamentarians accountable for bad behaviour, this bill may hamper robust debate in parliament. Robust debate—a contest of ideas that serves the public interest—is a core function of parliament. I absolutely agree with this. But debate must still occur with respect. At the end of the day, parliamentarians are models of behaviour for their staff, for other MPs and for the public. The establishment of a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner recognises and upholds this.

I support this bill but I want to acknowledge it is not perfect. As I mentioned earlier, if the commission were to make a finding against a parliamentarian that would attract a serious sanction—a fine, suspension, discharge from a committee—it would have to refer this to the privileges committee. The commission will not make a recommendation of which sanction would be appropriate, and the report they provide to the privileges committee would not be published nor tabled in parliament. It would then be up to the privileges committee to make a finding against that MP and recommend a sanction for the parliament to vote on. It would also be up to the Privileges Committee to name that MP in any reports it made to parliament. I share the concerns of many about these aspects of the bill. Fair Agenda have undertaken significant work on these reforms and share this concern, because this means serious findings could be made about an MP but they could face no sanction, the public would never know, and that’s a problem. The bad behaviour of parliamentarians should not be swept under the rug, because of the nature of the office that they hold.

We are legislating not just for now but for the future. We frankly don’t know how future privileges committees will operate, even if the one that exists now is robust and non-partisan. We must ensure the commission and the privileges committee operate with transparency if we want the public to trust in the new frameworks established through this bill. That’s why I support any amendments moved that would allow the commission to make recommendations to the privileges committee of serious sanctions against parliamentarians and that require the privileges committee to table reasons where its findings differ from recommendations of the commission. I urge the government and the opposition to listen to these concerns and support these amendments.

Finally I want to acknowledge that this bill has achieved the broad support of all major parties and from many Independent members in this place. Consensus decision-making is a significant achievement at any time in this parliament, and we should not underestimate it. With one voice, we recognise that we must do better—that we must meet the standards the public holds us to and that we hold ourselves to. It’s up to us now to make this a safe and respectful workplace that attracts the highest calibre of people in our society. I commend this bill to the House.