The Greens welcome the belated introduction today of legislation to establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission was introduced.
Recommendation 22 of the 2021 Set the Standards report was that the Houses of Parliament should establish, within 12 months, an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) to enforce codes of conduct. The IPSC was initially expected in October 2023, but that timeframe has since been updated to October 2024.
Senator Larissa Waters, Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on Women
“It’s two years late, but the Greens welcome the legislation to establish of an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.
“Now the bill has been introduced, the Greens want to see this commission be established quickly, without further delay.
“Women and staff have been unsafe in parliament for far too long. Parliamentarians have been getting away with blue murder, as there has been no way of holding them to account for bad behaviour.
“Finally with this new body, parliamentarians will face consequences for bad behaviour.
“The Greens pushed for stronger sanctions, including higher fines for MPs and more consequences for Ministers when there is an adverse finding. It shouldn’t be up to the Prime Minister to determine what happens to Ministers who misbehave.
“Parliament should be setting the standard for other workplaces around the country, but instead it’s been a national shame.
“This progress would not have happened without all the brave staff who have spoken out including Brittany Higgins, Dhanya Mani, Chelsey Potter, Rachelle Miller, Tessa Sullivan and Josie Coles.
“Both houses of parliament have endorsed Codes of Conduct for behaviour, but without an independent body to investigate breaches, those Codes have been unenforceable to date.
“We hope that having the Codes of conduct enforceable through the IPSC will discourage misconduct, and keep staff and everyone in parliamentary workplaces safe.”