Key Points
- Anne Aly wants the parliamentary code of conduct to cover racism, racial harassment and sexualised racial harassment.
- Dr Aly has witnessed and experienced "instances of subtle racism and micro-aggressions" in parliamentary workplaces.
This article contains references to sexual harassment and sexual assault.
In the wake of scandals and damning reports into the culture in Australia’s parliamentary workplaces, a federal committee is developing a code of conduct governing MPs, senators and staff.
The Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards has been tasked with developing a code of conduct for elected officials, parliamentary staff, and parliamentary workplaces “to ensure safe and respectful behaviour”.
Led by Labor MP Sharon Claydon as chair and Liberal senator Marise Payne as deputy chair, the committee is due to hand down its final report by 1 November.
In a submission to the inquiry, Minister for Youth and Early Childhood Education Anne Aly called for Australia’s parliamentary code of conduct to cover racism, racial harassment and sexualised racial harassment, and for it to be included in any proposed training programs for staff, MPs and senators.
Dr Aly wrote that she had “witnessed instances of subtle racism and micro-aggressions towards people of colour in commonwealth parliamentary workplaces and have experienced them myself”.
“No code of conduct that seeks to change workplace culture would be complete without acknowledging that these behaviours exist in our workplace, that they have a detrimental impact on workplace culture and severe effects on those who are subject to these behaviours,” she wrote.
While Australia has state and federal laws that make racial harassment unlawful, Dr Aly told SBS News that those standards “should also be reflected in our [parliamentary] code of conduct”.
“I think it's necessary that we have in place the same kinds of protections that we have for sexual harassment, and for other forms of harassment, that we have those in place for people of colour, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, in the same way that we have them in our in our workplaces around the country, and the same ways that they're embedded in our state and federal laws,” she said.
What is racialised sexual harassment?
In her submission to the inquiry, Dr Aly referred to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Set the Standard: Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces conducted by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, which “emphasised the importance of taking an intersectional approach to understanding workplace bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault, as well as how to prevent and respond to these types of behaviour”.
“The Review refers to people that identify as a First Nations person and those that identify as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) among others often feeling excluded and unsafe in their workplaces,” she wrote.
“As someone who identifies as a person of colour and CALD, I am concerned that racial harassment and racism are not included in the [inquiry’s terms of reference] with the risk being that they are excluded from the proposed codes of conduct.”
Dr Aly warned against racialised sexual harassment - “defined as harassing behaviours that combine race and gender simultaneously”- being overlooked in the new code of conduct.
“Examples of racialised sexual harassment include comments about appearance that emphasise gender and ethnicity but can also include instances where women of colour are dismissed or less likely to be believed when they report harassment or assault,” she wrote.
“Research in the United States has shown that Black women experience more severe and physical forms of sexual harassment, such as unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion, than white women.”
What is intersectionality?
Harmony Alliance, which represents women from migrant and refugee backgrounds called for the new code of conduct to “embed the principles of intersectionality and gender equality”.
“Intersectionality theory recognises that an intersection of multiple forms of systemic discrimination and barriers produces greater disadvantage for groups of people who are not dominant and do not have equal access to power and privilege as the dominant groups,” the group wrote in its submission to the inquiry.
“People from migrant and refugee backgrounds and especially women from migrant and refugee backgrounds are impacted by multiple forms of systemic disadvantage and inequality.
“In the context of parliamentary workplaces, developing the Code through an intersectional lens can be a solution to facilitate equity of access, experience and outcomes for women in all their diversity.”
The 47th parliament is the most diverse in Australia’s history, and “parliamentary policies and procedures should be responsive to the diversity of the Australian population,” Harmony Alliance wrote.
Dr Aly drew on her own experience to explain the concept of intersectionality.
“The way that I describe it is that when I walk into a room, I'm not just walking in as a woman, or a female parliamentarian, I'm also walking in as a woman of colour. I'm also walking in as a woman from a minority faith background, I'm also walking in as a whole range of other parts of my identity,” she told SBS News.
“And so, particularly where it's racialised sexual harassment or racial harassment, it's really important to call it out, to call it out as racial harassment or to call it out as racialised sexual harassment. So many times it's put into the basket of bullying or harassment generally, but it's really important for the people who are at the receiving end of this kind of harassment and this behaviour to have acknowledged that it is based on race, or that it is racialised sexual harassment.”
Will a code of conduct fix parliament’s culture problems?
A body enforcing a code of conduct in federal parliament would not be able to fix all its cultural issues but would help drive change, the inquiry was told this week.
Department of Parliamentary Services secretary Rob Stefanic told the inquiry more clarification was needed on how the new enforcement body for the code would work alongside other agencies in parliament.
"I don't believe the creation of new entities necessarily is the panacea, it's more the policies and the training and reforms that sit under that, that I think are more important," he said.
"Clarity will be important about what exactly that service does ... the code of conduct is the important foundation, but it's all the cultural work that stems from that, that will be the critical element."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to implementing the code of conduct following recommendations from Ms Jenkins' landmark review of workplace culture in Parliament House.
The Sex Discrimination Commissioner told the hearing the code for parliamentary staff should be consistent with other codes for federal public servants.
"Establishing these codes of conduct with enforceable sanctions is a key step to ensuring a safe and respectful environment, free from bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault," she said.
"A piece of paper isn't necessarily, on its own, the thing that changes things, but it should be supporting that and support those other recommendations we made about diversity, equality and inclusion."
The inquiry is also examining whether the new standards body could impose sanctions on MPs and senators without interfering with the functioning of parliament.
Ms 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.
"The consequences that we came up with that would not interfere with the operation of parliament ... (if it) were to attend training or to perhaps give an apology," she said.
With additional reporting by AAP.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
