The Australian government must recognise “the systemic nature of bullying, sexual harassment and assault” within the national parliament if it is ever to achieve real change, the union representing parliamentary staff says.
In its second submission to the landmark Jenkins inquiry, which is investigating the safety and culture of the parliament as a workplace, the Community and Public Sector Union’s membership says the parliament can’t truly move forward until it has reckoned with its past.
“It has a responsibility to declare bullying, sexual and sex-based harassment and assault as unacceptable and raise awareness of the individual and institutional impacts, and consequences for perpetrators,” the submission, seen by Guardian Australia, states.
“Importantly, change and renewal requires an acknowledgement of parliament’s historical failure to effectively address and prevent sexual harassment and bullying.”
The union urges the review to look at both the UK and New Zealand – two institutions that have previously reckoned with the need for change – as examples of how Australia’s parliamentary culture could be transformed.
The sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, has been tasked with reviewing the Australian parliamentary culture and has asked former and current staffers within parliament, as well as those associated with work within the building, to participate in the review.
The CPSU believes fixing the current problems requires a code of conduct to apply to all members of parliament – not just ministers.
“The commonwealth parliament has been widely criticised for the absence of a behavioural code of conduct that covers all parliamentarians, thereby providing no remedy to address inappropriate behaviours and misconduct,” the union submission states.
“The CPSU notes the current ministerial code of conduct is limited to ministers only, the enforcement of which is solely determined by the prime minister.
“The UK, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand each have codes of conduct clearly stating expectations about bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment. Within Australia, numerous states have an existing code of conduct for elected members with some provided in legislation.”
That code, the union recommends, should prohibit explicit behaviours already outlawed in most workplaces like “sexual and sex-based harassment, bullying and harassment and discrimination”.
“It must articulate behavioural expectations when interacting in the workplace and participating in parliamentary business, including in committee hearings and other proceedings,” the submission recommends.
“Parliament is a workplace and there are flow-on effects of modelled behaviour into parliamentary offices and for staff. While some political parties may have their own distinct codes, enforceability is left to the party itself which does not necessarily lead to accountability and transparency.”
To ensure accountability, and instil confidence in the system, any alleged breaches would need to be independently investigated and any sanctions would have to remain separate from political interference.
The union recommends further training for staff who witness acts of harassment or bullying, as well as reiterating the importance of independence from all political interference in all aspects of reporting – including under-reporting – as it urges the parliament to look at its issues as systemic, cultural problems which need addressing, rather than one-off serious incidents.
“Given the significant under-reporting of workplace sexual harassment and bullying, the organisation must look beyond the number of reported sexual harassment incidents to understand the prevalence of the issue,” the CPSU says.
The union said this could be obtained via informal discussions with workers, exit interviews, examining staff attrition rates and absenteeism, and staff engagement surveys.
The Jenkins review is continuing to gather submissions and is due to report back in November.
