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The parliamentary committee investigating a code of conduct for politicians and staff should focus on “racism and micro-aggressions towards people of colour”, Anne Aly has said.
The federal minister for early childhood education and youth said she had experienced racism during her time in politics and was concerned the committee would not focus enough attention on the subject.
In a submission to the inquiry, Aly said she was concerned the committee’s terms of reference did not include mention of racism issues, and she implored members to consider racial harassment in any code of conduct.
“I have witnessed instances of subtle racism and micro-aggressions towards people of colour in commonwealth parliamentary workplaces and have experienced them myself,” Aly said in the submission. “No code of conduct that seeks to change workplace culture would be complete without acknowledging that these behaviours exist in our workplace.”
She also raised concerns about women of colour potentially being dismissed or less likely to be believed when reporting complaints.
Other federal MPs have suggested a greater emphasis on remote working for staff who are normally required to travel with their bosses, tighter limits on parliamentary speeches and bigger sanctions on misbehaving politicians.
The Senate president, Sue Lines, has proposed a code of conduct to outlaw racist or lewd jokes, and restrictions on politicians who do not agree to such rules.
The joint select committee on parliamentary standards has been tasked to develop a code for commonwealth parliamentarians, parliamentary staff and workplaces.
The Labor government committed to implementing a code of conduct following recommendations from a review of parliament’s workplace culture by the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins.
Lines, a Labor senator for Western Australia, said sexism was “an institutionalised attribute of Westminster parliaments” and praised the fact 57% of the upper house were now women.
Referencing codes of conduct from British and Canadian parliaments, as well as recommendations of the Jenkins report, Lines suggested the Australian code of conduct could include restrictions on insulting racial jokes, explicit emails or texts, intrusive questions about someone’s personal or sex life, practical jokes of a sexual nature, and wider rules against bullying, harassment and assault.
Lines’ suggestions included prohibitions against politicians retaliating against those who made complaints, and obligations for every politician to “commit to contributing to a gender sensitive environment within the Australian parliament and all its precincts”.
She suggested politicians undertake “educational activities” on the code, a publicly accessible register of those who had signed a commitment to the code, and restrictions – such as a ban on participating in official delegations – for MPs and senators who failed to do so.
The Liberal MP for La Trobe, Jason Wood, wrote in a submission that remote working should be encouraged in parliament, specifically noting the cases of working parents and staff who are often required to travel with their boss.
Wood’s submission called for reduced hours at parliament house during sitting weeks, and restricting MPs and senators’ speeches to 10 minutes “to ensure a smooth, timely running” of parliament.
The Jenkins report had also made note of extreme work hours and pressure on staff.
The independent member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, said the code of conduct must be accompanied by a parliamentary standards commission that could “apply meaningful sanctions”. He did not elaborate in his submission on what such penalties should be, but said he would “strongly support an enforceable code of conduct”, noting the community’s “utter despair at the misbehaviour of members of parliament”.
At the first hearing of the committee in Canberra on Monday, the Department of Parliamentary Services secretary, Rob Stefanic, said more clarification was needed on how the new enforcement body for the code would work alongside other agencies in parliament.
Jenkins told the hearing the code for parliamentary staff should be consistent with other codes for federal public servants.
Jenkins said while it was unlikely the commission would be able impose sanctions or compel the expulsion of an MP from parliament, there were other ways actions could be enforced if a parliamentarian was found to have breached the code.
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