Launch of Set the Standard

Launch of Set the Standard, the final report from the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins

Tuesday 30 November 2021

The Commonwealth Parliament sits at the heart of Australia’s representative democracy. As one of the country’s most prominent workplaces, it should set the standard for others and be something Australians look to with pride. It is in every Australian’s interest for our Parliament to attract the best talent and for all participants to be able to perform at their absolute best.

In March this year, following several people courageously sharing their experiences of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace, the Australian Human Rights Commission was asked to conduct an Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces.

As I deliver our Set the Standard Report today, I firstly want to acknowledge the important role that Brittany Higgins has played as a catalyst for this review by sharing her experience. The impact of her bravery is immeasurable.

This Review took place in the context of shifting global and national expectations around equality, safety and respect. Employers are increasingly taking concerted action to address sexual harassment and meet higher expectations.

The aim of this Review was to ensure that all Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces are safe and respectful and that our national Parliament reflects best practice in the prevention and handling of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Review was not an investigation into individual matters, but a broad systemic examination of Parliament as a workplace.

The Terms of Reference that guided the Review covered the full breadth of parliamentary workplaces, from ministerial and shadow ministerial offices to electorate offices, parliamentary departments and the Press Gallery.

Today, I am pleased to present the results of our deep engagement with the many individuals who work or have previously worked in these workplaces.

The participation in this Review was remarkable.

In the three months from June to August we received over 1700 individual contributions from current and former staff and parliamentarians from across all parliamentary workplaces.

We conducted almost 500 interviews, received more than 300 submissions, and more than 900 people responded to our anonymous online survey.

I am deeply grateful to each of the people who engaged with us. It is a privilege to have been trusted by you.

We heard that there is no single parliamentary workplace or culture—there are many individual workplaces and workplace cultures within the parliamentary ecosystem. This includes a wide array of workers beyond parliamentarians and their staff. There are COMCAR drivers, parliamentary library staff, staff who work with parliamentary committees, public servants, journalists, security, cleaning, events and catering staff.

We made every effort to ensure that we heard from people in as many of these different settings as possible. An overwhelming sentiment shared by Review participants was that working in these workplaces is a privilege and an honour.

Participants told us of both positive and concerning experiences.

Many people shared distressing experiences of bullying, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, sometimes for the first time. They said these things could never be shared anywhere else. They did so with the hope that they could help make this workplace better for those who come after them.

We heard that many people, both current and former staff and parliamentarians, have had meaningful careers, motivated by a genuine commitment to contribute to the nation’s direction and betterment.

However, even those with positive experiences recognise that this workplace does not always meet the standards expected of other modern workplaces nor the best practice that the nation’s Parliament should set.

There is sometimes a temptation to say that, because of its role in national life, it is an exceptional workplace. To say that parliamentarians and their staff are not like the rest of us. That they live and work in a different world. But this does them, and us, a great disservice.

Being exceptional does not mean that we should make exceptions.  

Our report sets out clearly what we heard about working in the hundreds of parliamentary workplaces across the country, without identifying anyone.

We heard that there are unique characteristics in this workplace that create risks for bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault to occur and to go unreported.

We heard that parliamentary workplaces are characterised by

• the high-intensity and inherently political nature of the work;
• the pursuit of political power and advantage;
• a ‘win at all costs’ ethos;
• the frequent blurring of personal and professional life; and
• an expectation of intense loyalty to political parties.

Parliament is inherently about power, and that power runs in multiple directions. We heard that power imbalances and the misuse of power is one of the primary drivers of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Gender inequality and a wider lack of diversity, particularly evident in the low representation of women in leadership roles, means women are more likely to experience misconduct.

In any organisation, leadership sets expectations through what is incentivised, rewarded, punished and reported. We heard that in these workplaces, leadership is largely geared towards pursuing external priorities, rather than internal culture or ‘people leadership’.

We heard that offices functioned better where their parliamentarians or chiefs of staff prioritised people leadership, ensuring people were clear on their roles and expected behaviour and felt safe to report misconduct. However, parliamentarians and their staff largely do not come into their roles with the skills to lead teams effectively and are not set up for success.

High performing teams are essential to the important work of the Parliament, yet people leadership skills are not valued and systems to support people are inadequate.

Combined with the lack of accountability to meet consistent standards and enforcement of those standards, and the absence of strong human resource systems to support performance—all these factors create a permissive environment in which misconduct can, and does, occur.

Misconduct is often dealt with as a political problem rather than as a people issue. As a result, we heard that people are often punished for reporting misconduct, while others are protected, rewarded or even promoted for engaging in misconduct.

This permissive environment is reflected in the data from our Review Survey.

Over half (51%) of all people currently in CPWs have experienced at least one incident of bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault in a CPW.

Gender plays a significant role in shaping experience in these workplaces.

Across all parliamentary workplaces, 40% of women have been sexually harassed compared to 26% of men. Some cohorts in the Parliament are particularly vulnerable, with staffers and women parliamentarians at highest risk.

Women we spoke to told us they felt ‘lucky’ when they had not directly experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault.

Reflecting the role of power in these workplaces, half of people who have experienced sexual harassment, and more than three quarters of those who have experienced bullying, said that they were harassed or bullied by someone more senior than themselves.

There is also a worryingly low level of reporting indicating that it is not safe to speak. Only 11% of people who experienced sexual harassment in a parliamentary workplace reported their experience.

These are not just numbers. There is a story behind every statistic.

There is a high cost of misconduct to the Parliament—a cost that is borne by people in terms of their health, wellbeing and future careers, but also as a cost to the institution and therefore to Australia in the loss of talent, impacts on team performance and productivity.

The challenge of misconduct in parliamentary workplaces is significant, largely because of the complexity of the environment. However, misconduct in these workplaces is not inevitable or intractable.

The deep engagement in this Review has laid the foundation for change. Most people who contributed to the Review did so because they deeply care about the institution and embraced the opportunity to drive positive change.

There is also nothing inherent about a Westminster system that prevents Parliament from taking action on misconduct. Parliaments around the world are already taking such action, and our Parliament has the opportunity to learn from these experiences and become a global leader on this issue.

The recommendations in this Report are designed to bring parliamentary workplaces into line with the standards expected of all modern Australian workplaces and support all parts of the parliament to perform at their best.

They are simple solutions to a complex problem.

In making our recommendations, we have sought to balance the need for better support with robust accountability.

Better support includes systems and processes to guide people and set them up for success. Improved accountability is achieved by clear standards, and an independent reporting and complaints body to create a safe reporting environment and enforce those standards.

Drawing on lessons from other parliaments as well as high pressure, high profile workplaces in sporting, military, business and education settings, the Report breaks our proposed solutions down to five shifts that are required.

The first is leadership. Our recommendations are focused on strengthening leadership to foster safe and respectful work environments – this includes both institutional leadership and individual leadership of parliamentarians, office-holders and party leaders. Leaders set the tone, and leadership from the top is particularly important to set clear expectations and role model safe and respectful behaviour.

The second is diversity, equality and inclusion. In line with corporate Australia, all parties need to set targets and take specific actions for gender balance and diversity in the Parliament and regularly measure and publicly report on progress. We know that what gets measured gets done.

The third is systems to support performance. Our recommendations are focused on ensuring parliamentarians and their staff have human resource systems, processes and advice tailored to the specific needs of their context to support their important work and help them perform at their best.

The fourth is standards, reporting and accountability. We recommend establishing clear and consistent Codes of Conduct, alongside an independent complaint body, where it is safe to make a report, standards are enforced and people are held accountable through sanctions.

The final shift is around safety and wellbeing. This includes a proactive approach to safety and wellbeing, including a focus on prevention to meet applicable work, health and safety duties. It also involves developing policies to restrict alcohol use in line with harm minimisation and safety principles.

The recommendations are a package – they are mutually reinforcing and complementary and therefore should not be cherry picked for implementation.

We are recommending that the implementation is phased to ensure that immediate priorities can be progressed, while new structures and mechanisms are established. The next election provides an important opportunity to set people up for success through proper induction, training

If this year has made one thing clear, it is that these issues matter to an increasing number of Australians. It matters because we all need parliament to function at its best and deliver good decision-making.

I am optimistic about change. In engaging the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct this Independent Review there was courage to hear confronting truths and an appetite to learn; we heard through consultations and submissions that there is a strong commitment for change; and our Report now provides the practical pathway to deliver change.

I am grateful to everyone who contributed their voice to this Review and am proud of the talented team who have worked on this Review with sensitivity, wisdom, dedication and urgency.

We are asking the nation’s parliament to do no more than it expects from all Australian workplaces. At its heart, this Report describes how Parliament can create safe, respectful and inclusive working environments to ensure it can attract the best, who can deliver their best for us all.

This is a firm basis for an historic legacy this Parliament can leave, creating a stronger parliament for the future.

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