This is part two of a three-part series looking at what needs to be done to make Parliament House a safe place for all. Read the series here.
A record number of independents and women have been elected to Parliament, coming from medical, corporate and legal backgrounds. With no party to mentor them, they face an uphill battle in learning the ins and outs of Parliament and politics — with an added pressure that their presence will contribute to a new, improved Parliament with a safer and more respectful culture.
But change will be slow, and expecting an entirely new workplace culture based solely on a diversified workforce is problematic. Here are some of the issues with change, and how three independents say they’ll address it.
Steep learning curve
There’s no handbook on how Parliament works, and for independents there’s no one from their party to show them the ropes. MPs arrive, are given a parliamentary email address and keys to an office, and take it from there.
“There’ll be no handover with the previous local member … so any casework will have to go back to the beginning when I start,” member for Goldstein Zoe Daniel tells Crikey.
“I’ll be told: ‘Off you go and be an MP.’ ” Thankfully, she says, many independents are working together and sharing information, tips and knowledge.
“There’s a lot to learn and that learning curve needs to be really steep because we’re in three-year parliamentary terms, which is not a lot of time.”
There’s also no code of conduct for MPs to guide their behaviour. While a code will be developed by the new Joint Standing Committee on Parliamentary Standards as recommended by sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins, it’s yet to be developed. This surprised North Sydney MP Kylea Tink.
“I think that speaks volumes to what’s missing in this culture — that standard set of values, a very clear vision on what this organisation is meant to be about, and then a standard code of what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable,” she tells Crikey.
New expectations
With different career backgrounds come different expectations for how a workplace should function — and as Jenkins’ review outlined, Parliament is an anomaly when it comes to irregular hours, alcohol consumption and acceptability for harassment.
One thing Australians can expect to see less of is abusive comments yelled across the chambers in the name of a “lively debate”. (The very same day Jenkins handed in her damning review into Parliament workplace culture, an unknown Labor MP yelled out for then health minister Greg Hunt and MP Gladys Lui to “get a room”.)
While accepted among MPs, those coming from different workforces have different expectations and can look at scenarios with fresh eyes. Tink says if she heard inappropriate language called out during question time, which often isn’t picked up on microphones and not heard by those at home, she would call it out.
“I would then personally bring it to the speaker’s attention and to the attention of either the leader of the opposition or the prime minister.”
Member for Mackellar Dr Sophie Scamps tells Crikey the new MPs haven’t grown accustomed to the unacceptable behaviour other MPs had.
“It will be startling for us … to show that things are not normal,” she says The lack of alcohol policies was shocking. Scamps is a GP in an industry where going on a boozy lunch before going back to work would get you barred.
“Independents are not controlled by a party, so you’re very free to call anything out that you need to call out … and that’s a very powerful thing.”
Old habits die hard
Expecting women to change workplace culture solely on the basis of being women is damaging, Griffith University principal research fellow at the Policy Innovation Hub Jennifer Menzies tells Crikey.
“There’s an expectation that when women get to a certain level of power or numbers within the Parliament, they’re going to bring a more consultative and consensus-seeking model to the Parliament,” she says.
“What worries me is that’s a continuation of gender stereotypes. There’s a lot of different women in the Parliament that will approach the way they go about their parliamentary business in different models.”
Australia’s Westminster-style Parliament makes change tough too. With the two major parties sitting opposite one another and the media looking down from the press gallery hunting for explosive grabs, expectations for change needed to be checked, she says.
“I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” Tink says. “The reality is that culture is perhaps one of the hardest things to change in any organisation … so I am very mindful that just adding more women to the environment is not necessarily going to shift the dial.”
New MPs are not just dumped in Parliament House and told to go and be an MP. There is a class for newcomers so that they can be instructed in a whole range of things about how Parliament works, how debates are run and where the toilets are. I have not heard of that being abolished but sometimes changes can go unnoticed.
Quality MPs do not need a Code of Conduct to know how to behave. The Code is only needed for those that don’t know like Cabinet Ministers..
I remember when Derryn Hinch used to write on this site, he mentioned going to “Senate School.” Presumably there’s something similar for new members of the Reps.
They are subject to a complete Induction course. Plus I have no doubt returning Independents will assist the newbies.
Or Opposition spokespeople or shadow ministers.
The culture will change. Albo is considerably more house trained and respectful than the self styled bulldozer. So he will set a more respectful tone and the teals and greens will help reinforce it regardless of what the various loose units get up to.
I might even be able to watch question time with my guts turning.
Not until they ban Dorothy Dixers.
The rules that apply in a normal business context should be applied in Parliament. If affected by alcohol, then entry should be barred to the Chamber till sober, a rule of thumb would be 24 hours. If affected by drugs, likewise. Personal abuse, swearing, racist or sexist comments etc as opposed to berating the other side (s) should be cause for the culprit to be ejected from the Chamber for 24 hours and so on.
The Whips would rapidly realise that the loss of members, in effect their failure to keep a tight control on behaviour, had real consequences in respect of furthering legislation.
It also makes the role of Speaker more powerful if he/she could eject members breaking the rules, substance abuse is the obvious standout. However, Ms Hansen’s hijab stunt in the Senate should have been cause for the President to order her removal.
It’s worth noting that the appointment of an independent Speaker, for example Mr Andrew Wilkie, makes the application of “business” rules less likely to be influenced by party considerations. There is great merit in such an appointment, though recent Speakers, with the obvious and disgraceful exception of Bronwyn Bishop have acted with probity and honour.
The new independents and the Greens have not only contributed to a change in gender ratio but it has raised the IQ of those sitting as a collective in Parliament 1000%. Given the professional background of most of these women they would quickly be able to put together documentation of Codes of Ethics and behaviours to reflect a modern business with high standards. I also am confident we will have far more competent speakers and hopefully an independent speaker and a PM who is far more disciplined and dignified in his approach to people.
So are you saying these people and they are mostly women are so incapable after having worked in the legal or corporate world that they won’t be able to follow procedure of their new workplace or learn new tricks? this is very sexist and presumptuous of you, even for a woman. I think you need to strike this article. Pretend that you never wrote it. Dreadful.
I tell you that the real problem with Parliament is the now Opposition and that the way to make parliament a safe and even a more efficient functioning workplace is to elect fewer conservative politicians. I am surprised.
It is a democracy remember