MPs face sanctions under new standards commission
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 a ministerial office in 2019.
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 last year 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.
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