I rise in strong support of the Prime Minister's motion. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said in the House:

Parliament House will never be a typical workplace, but it must be a safe workplace, a respectful workplace, a workplace that lives up to the ideals our democracy is built on—equality, fairness, decency and respect for all—and a workplace worthy of the nation and the people we are called here to serve …

And he is absolutely right. That's why I'm very proud to stand here today as the parliament adopts, for the first time ever, standards and a code of conduct. I want to pay particular tribute to my friend and colleague, the member for Newcastle, Deputy Speaker of the House, who chaired the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards, and all the members of that committee from across political persuasions who worked to develop this code of conduct. It was presented unanimously, and that is really significant because these are issues that are across the political divide. It affects people from all sides of politics, and this is a unifying moment for this parliament as we come together to adopt these standards and a code of conduct for the first time.

It's very important that this House acknowledges the unacceptable history of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces. I'm very proud that we're taking this action.

It's been a year since Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins's landmark Set the standard report was formally acknowledged by this parliament. The title of that report is apt because people expect this workplace to set the standard. It should be a place that other workplaces look up to.

In March 2021, thousands and thousands of women across Australia marched for justice, and they said, 'Enough is enough.' I was proud, with many of my colleagues, to go out to the march outside Parliament House and to gather with women who were tired of the sexism, the harassment and even assaults that women are subjected to, and this was, of course, sparked by the bravery of Brittany Higgins in coming forward with her story. This resonated with people because it was about not just what was going on in Parliament House that was completely unacceptable but what was going on in workplaces, in the community, in homes all around our country. What it said was that people did want to see the parliament—as a workplace, as an institution—do better and set the standard, and in adopting this code of conduct we begin that really important work.

I want to talk a little bit about parliamentary staff, because I think there's often a lot of misunderstanding in the community about the role that these staff actually have. These people work incredibly hard for incredibly long hours with incredible dedication. They are some of the most clever and smart and concerned people in this country, who come here to work because they believe in the power of this place to make changes for the lives of Australians. For many, as people have talked about, it is a dream job to come and work here—to be part of making that change. That is something that I can relate to, having worked as a staffer in the past myself. To me, it was just a dream come true to come and work in this place.

For too many people, though, they have had disastrous experiences here that never should have happened in a workplace that should have been respectful and that should not have subjected people to sexism, to harassment and even to assault and attempted assault. I really want to thank and acknowledge the people who bravely came and shared their stories as part of that Kate Jenkins report and review, because that isn't easy, and it is because of that that we are here making that change. I hope that this brings some hope to people who have, very wrongfully, had those experiences and that it begins a path to changing this place, which I believe we are already on, since those discussions began. I think there really has been a reckoning in this place and there is a need for people to do things differently.

As the Prime Minister has said, it will never be a typical workplace. There will always be long hours. There will always be a bit of chaos here. Part of the problem here is that people who come into this place do have a lot of power, and what this code of conduct is asking people to do, in part, is to be mindful of that and not to abuse that. I think that is really key to this. What is key to this is having respect for one another as human beings. I'm very proud of the work that the joint select committee has done to come up with this, and I'm proud that our parliament is adopting this. It's very important.

The commissioner made a number of findings about the need for urgent and immediate reform and, importantly, for long-term cultural change—changes that will make this workplace safer and more respectful and a worthy exemplar for other workplaces around the country. As I say, we are heeding these findings, and the government has since been working collaboratively across the parliament to implement the report recommendations so we can deliver safer and more respectful parliamentary workplaces. Everyone should feel safe when they go to work, and, as I say, absolutely in this building people should always feel safe. This building should set the standard for workplaces around the country, and that's what this is about.

The parliament also took action last year, when Minister Gallagher announced that the new human resources body for parliamentarians and staff would be established as an independent statutory agency. We are enhancing the existing Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, which has already built the trust and confidence of staff and colleagues.

Importantly, part of this step today is that complaints made under the code of conduct will be taken seriously and they will be dealt with independently and confidentially. In the past, many have said that when they've made complaints they've felt that it has been managed or swept under the rug as a political problem to solve. This is about taking this seriously, dealing with it independently and creating that mechanism to deal with these complaints so that everyone can feel safe in this workplace. We want this to be a workplace where we can all feel safe and all be proud of the culture here. Again, I really want to commend the work of the member for Newcastle and all members on that committee and everyone in this parliament who supports this and who is going to work together to make this a safe, respectful and equal workplace.