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The Morrison government has signalled it will take the first steps towards implementing recommendations from the Jenkins review into parliamentary culture when parliament resumes next week, one of the final sessions before the federal election.
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, indicated last year he would aim to implement the first two recommendations of the landmark review before parliament resumed in February, and amend legislation governing the employment of political staff before the election.
In an interview with Guardian Australia late last year, Birmingham said his immediate priorities were setting up a leadership taskforce to oversee the changes, and preparing a public statement acknowledging the trauma caused by bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in political offices ready to deliver after the summer break.
The Morrison government remains under public pressure to improve the safety of parliamentary workplaces. In a statement on Friday, Birmingham said a multiparty leadership taskforce had been established to oversee the implementation of the recommendations and had met for the first time on Thursday.
He said the taskforce had discussed making a statement of acknowledgment, which was the first recommendation of the Jenkins review, as well as the establishment of a parliamentary committee to report on the development of codes of conduct for commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.
Birmingham also confirmed the government would introduce legislative changes recommended by the Jenkins review. The changes would confirm that the Fair Work Act 2009, the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 apply to people employed under the Members of Parliament Staff Act (MOP(S) Act).
The change would also confirm the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 applied to parliamentarians in their capacity as employers.
Last November, Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, recommended a significant overhaul of federal parliament’s toxic workplace culture after handing down her report that found one in three staffers interviewed had been sexually harassed.
The Jenkins inquiry was triggered after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped after hours in a ministerial office in March 2019. Higgins’s allegations are the subject of separate criminal proceedings.
Next week, Higgins will appear at the National Press Club in Canberra with former Australian of the Year and survivor advocate Grace Tame. Former parliamentary staffers have urged the Morrison government and other political parties to quickly implement the recommendations, warning failure to do so will trigger a fierce backlash from women at the ballot box.
The Jenkins review made 28 recommendations, and last year’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (Myefo) allocated $17.8m over four years to fund their implementation.
Jenkins recommended political leaders make a public statement acknowledging “the impact of the misconduct on individuals and the lack of action taken in the past” and “outline the institutional leadership commitment to change, with shared accountability for progress”.
Jenkins’s second recommendation was the government establish a leadership taskforce, with oversight by the presiding officers, “chaired by an independent expert and supported by an implementation group” to ensure all the recommendations of the report were implemented.
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The sex discrimination commissioner also recommended a comprehensive review of the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act, and legislative changes ensuring there were fair termination processes for employees.
Chelsey Potter, a former Liberal party adviser, told Guardian Australia on Friday the government’s failure to grapple seriously with the issues last year had “set the bar so low at this stage that any minor progress feels like one giant step forward for the Morrison government”.
Potter has alleged she was sexually assaulted by another colleague in Canberra while working for Birmingham in 2015. She was a key advocate ahead of the Jenkins inquiry to ensure the review maintained a workable balance between confidentiality for submitters, and the preservation of staff rights to access key records held by their former employers.
On Friday, she said the government had not been very open with former staff about its intentions since the release of the Jenkins review. “I sincerely hope that, finally, we can see tangible action and progress – almost a year after Brittany first shared her story”.
Jenkins on Friday welcomed the initial progress. “I welcome minister Birmingham’s announcement of a multiparty leadership taskforce to oversee the implementation of all 28 recommendations from our #SetTheStandard report”.
“The multiparty support for the Set the Standard review was an important pillar, and I welcome the continued involvement of the opposition, minor parties and independents,” she said.
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