Senate

Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Finance, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher)

STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

1. These amendments would amend the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2023 (the Bill) to insert provisions to provide for the repeal of the review function conferred on the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) two years after the commencement of the PWSS.

2. The purpose of these amendments is to ensure that the review function is only conferred on the PWSS as an interim function. It is intended that the PWSS would no longer perform the review function once the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) is established.

5. The Australian Human Rights Commission's Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces recommended that an IPSC is established to operate a formal complaint, investigation and enforcement mechanism to deal with complaints about alleged non-compliance with codes of conduct applying to Parliamentarians and their staff, and standards of conduct applying to Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

3. As explained in the Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights in the explanatory memorandum to the Bill, the review function would promote:

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the rights to equality and non-discrimination,

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the right to take part in public affairs,

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the right to the highest standard of physical and mental health,

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the right to work and rights in work, and

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the right to an effective remedy.

4. The amendments would have a neutral effect on human rights, as it is intended that the PWSS review function will be replaced by the IPSC.

5. The amendments are compatible with human rights.