Australian federal politicians could be hit with sanctions for bullying behaviour or harassment under an overhaul aimed at making the halls of Parliament power safer for women.
It’s one of the 28 recommendations from a damning review that found one-third of people working in Parliament House and federal politicians’ offices have been sexually harassed.
Just 11 per cent reported the harassment.
About a quarter of workers told Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’ review their harasser was a politician.
“One of the things that had the most impact on me is how much harder that workplace is for women, parliamentarians and actually for women staffers,” she told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“When they come there, they are constantly working out what they have to put up with what they can speak up about.”
Three-quarters of people in commonwealth parliamentary workplaces have experienced, witnessed or heard about bullying, actual or attempted sexual harassment and assault.
“(T)he MP sitting beside me leaned over. Also thinking he wanted to tell me something, I leaned in,” one person told the review.
“He grabbed me and stuck his tongue down my throat. The others all laughed. It was revolting and humiliating.”
Another person described federal parliament as a man’s world with a culture of drinking and a lack of accountability.
“I do often describe Parliament House as the most sexist place I’ve worked,” someone else told the Jenkins’ report, entitled Set the Standard.
Jenkins called on federal parliament to make a statement acknowledging the harm caused by bullying, sexual harassment and assault.
Also under the reforms, a joint parliamentary standards committee would be set up to develop codes of conduct for politicians and their staff.
An independent parliamentary standards commission would also be established to deal with complaints and enforce the codes.
It could make findings of misconduct and decisions on sanctions such as apologising or undergoing training.
More serious sanctions could also be recommended to the House of Representatives or Senate to decide to enforce.
Gender targets accompanied by yearly public reports were also called for to boost the numbers of women in parliament.
Alcohol was also part of the problem with Jenkins recommending a policy aimed at restricting its availability at work.
“There’s this idea that politics is done by building relationships. But it seemed like lots of those were done in events with alcohol and that’s just not the corporate world anymore,” the commissioner said.
Women’s Economic Security Minister Jane Hume wanted to see bipartisan cooperation on the recommendations.
“There has always been an understanding that Parliament House was an exception to the rule,” she told ABC TV.
“We want to make sure that everybody has buy-in to those recommendations so that we can make significant and fundamental and systemic change.”
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said the report’s recommendations were sensible and that the opposition would consider them.
“People think they can get away with all sorts of bad behaviour and it’s encouraged and laughed at quite often. I’ve seen that over the years too,” she told ABC radio.
“We need to take action to make sure that Parliament House is a safe workplace, particularly for our young staff.”
