MPs face sanctions under new standards commission
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Federal MPs will be subject to sanctions for bad behaviour in the workplace under new laws to be introduced in parliament.
The Labor government will on Wednesday introduce legislation to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.
The bill delivers on a recommendation in an Australian Human Rights Commission report – Set The Standard – into the culture in parliamentary workplaces.
The report was published three years ago following the alleged rape of then-Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in the ministerial office of Senator Linda Reynolds in 2019 by another staffer.
The standards commission will have the power to conduct workplace investigations and impose sanctions under behaviour codes for parliamentarians, their staff and other people who work in federal parliamentary workplaces.
The draft behaviour codes were endorsed in principle in 2023 and will be formally adopted once the commission bill passes.
The codes include requirements to foster respectful and inclusive workplaces, and a prohibition on bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, assault and discrimination.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the government was committed to improving workplace behaviour and culture at Parliament House.
“We’ve been working hard to put the systems in place so that people can raise workplace complaints, and when complaints are substantiated, that both staff and parliamentarians are held to account for their behaviour,” she said in a statement.
The types of sanctions imposed will depend on whether the respondent is a current or former parliamentarian, employee or other parliamentary workplace participant.
Responding to reports MPs could face sanctions of up to $11,000, Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan said he didn’t think it would work in practice and questioned whether the commission would be used to make “vexatious” complaints.
“I mean, $11,000 is not going to be enough to deter badly behaving people,” he told Nine’s Today show.
“But the name and shame powers will be clearly enough to encourage a whole lot of frivolous and vexatious complaints just to try and take down your political opponents.”
Senator Canavan also questioned the government’s rationale that the bill was justified because of events surrounding Ms Higgins.
“This is a bill about MPs’ behaviour and Katy needs to answer exactly which MP, did the wrong thing in that saga because we’ve had a million or odd court cases and inquiries and it’s very clear through all of those that Senator Linda Reynolds, the government of the day, tried their best,” he said.
Ms Higgins is currently defending a defamation action by Senator Reynolds in the West Australian Supreme Court.
Earlier in 2024, the Federal Court heard a defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann in NSW and found that on the balance of probabilities Ms Higgins was raped in Parliament House.
He is appealing the decision and has denied the allegation.
AAP
