Ms BURNET (Clark) – Thank you, Mr George, for that and the honesty. Speaker, I rise to speak to this report of the Joint Sessional Committee on Workplace Culture Oversight, and at the outset, I’d like to say that there’s been a power of work. I acknowledge the work of all the committee members. I know that there have been various committee members along the way: the Premier, Dr Woodruff, the Leader of the Opposition, and also the clerks’ work, the consultants in sharing their knowledge and doing the groundwork. I also acknowledge the work of the parliamentary staff involved on good governance, based on the Bolt Report. Thank you at the outset for the work that you’ve done.
The code, the recommendations, the establishment of the position of the complaints commissioner, the alcohol and other drugs policy for members all provide a sound basis for a more respectful and safer workplace. As Mr George has acknowledged, parliaments haven’t been known as great places, and we’ve seen that in so many situations. The work of Sarah Bolt, and also the work of Kate Jenkins in the federal parliament have been groundbreaking. It is very important to ensure that we take the right steps for that culture of respect, the culture of a safe workplace.
I think this provides a very sound basis and a good place to start. I think we should take it as an iterative process. There must be a degree of acceptance from members, and with that acceptance there’s the ownership for these recommendations to be successfully implemented. Hopefully we won’t have to use a lot of them, but I think having the groundwork there is really important.
There have been many attempts to improve workplace culture and respect. I think of local government levels where I have been involved over the years in trying to create better workplaces. I know that other people in this place have had that same experience in local government and it’s been pretty much an uphill battle to get that respect. At the outset, having respectful behaviour takes a huge shift for some people. I think a bit of self‑reflection, as Mr George has shown, is important for all of us.
We’ve had a budget, and Estimates replies, and I’ve taken note of some of those comments from Mr Vermey and even the Treasurer. We have to think about being in somebody else’s shoes, seeing what their experience might be, what their personal story might be. We don’t know what kind of bad day they’ve had when they’ve left home, what’s happened, or indeed throughout life; I believe it’s incumbent on all of us to take this very seriously, to think about it, but to own it as well.
I believe in any scenario it’s good to try and seek empathy. Not everybody has empathy, but we are in a leadership position, we are leaders of this state. We have expectations not only of ourselves, but our community has expectations of us. I think it’s important to lead by example. Some of the things that we’re adopting tonight won’t necessarily go all the way to making this the best workplace, but it is a good start. It’s about how we can lead by example. Often we have events here, we had year nine students who had come from all over Tasmania last week and we had discussions with them in small groups. We often say you can’t be what you can’t see. I think there’s a grain of truth or understanding, if we consider how we behave. So if we’re projecting poor behaviour, and we do it all the time, don’t we, in Question Time and so forth? It’s not going to be all sweetness and light. Nobody’s expecting that, but we need to consider what impact that has on the broader community. I really think that this has come a long way. I will just read that first clause in the preamble. I believe this sets it up really well:
This code sets out the ethical and behavioural standards of conduct expected of members of parliament elected by the people of Tasmania. The actions of members of parliament have an impact on the lives of all Tasmanian people through the legislation they enact, and the public confidence in parliament through the behaviours they model.
I commend this and I thank everybody who’s been involved in bringing it to this parliament.
Motion agreed to.
