Doorstop - Parliament House 21 August

JOURNALIST: … to get this over the line, and do you think you've got the support of the other parties?

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Well, look it's a really important piece of legislation. It's the final recommendations of the Kate Jenkins report. So, it's all about improving workplace conduct in this building and making sure that where there is bad conduct or poor conduct, misconduct, that there's appropriate sanctions and enough deterrence to stop that behaviour from happening. So there's been a lot of work going into it. It's a really important structural change to this workplace and I'm hopeful that we would be able to get it through the Parliament. We've done a huge amount of work across the Parliament with all representative groups, but, you know, there's a little way to go. But I'm hopeful we've found the right balance. There's sanctions, obviously, for poor behaviour, and there's good and fair process for everybody who might have a complaint made against them.

JOURNALIST: You're trying to bring Parliament House into line with corporate culture, right? Because this place is decades behind where the private sector is, isn't it?

GALLAGHER: Well, it's been an unusual workplace in the sense that, you know, MPs and Senators are not employed in the traditional way. They're employed essentially by their electorates and so, behaviour and codes of conduct hasn't really been put in place like it has been in other workplaces where you've got that straight employee-employer relationship. So it has been tricky. It's obviously been found to be wanting. The Set the Standard report found that bullying, harassment, other complaints were you know common in this workplace, and we're trying to change that. We want it to be a good place to work. We think the Commonwealth Parliament should be really the leader. It should be one of the best places to work. And hopefully bodies like this, along with the other changes that we've put in place, will improve the conduct.

JOURNALIST: Punishments have to be ratified by Parliament. Would you vote to sanction one of your own Labor Party colleagues?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think the change here is that it will be done - the investigation will be done by an independent body. So, there'll be a Commissioner that investigates complaints. If that Commissioner finds that there's been a serious breach of the Code of Conduct, then it will go to the Parliament through the Privileges Committee, and then onto the chamber floor, where people will have to vote on it. Now, the Privileges Committee is a serious committee. They deal with difficult issues that operate in a nonpartisan way, and I would expect that findings of the Privileges Committee would be endorsed by the Parliament. I think it would be strange if that hadn't happened, and of course, it'll be very public, so people will have to be accountable for the way they vote, but also for the conduct that occurs in this place.

JOURNALIST: In most other workplaces if you behave poorly, you lose your job. Is there an avenue for people to be removed from the building, both politicians and staff, if they're misbehaving?

GALLAGHER: So, certainly for staff and for other employees in this workplace - I mean, you know, obviously, you all have codes of conduct in your workplace. It's different for members of Parliament. So, they are essentially employed by their electorates through the election process. So, removing an individual really is only done by the people that put the person there. So, the sanctions we're looking at are suspension, removal from a parliamentary committee, or a fine. Plus, I guess, the transparency that comes with this process. I actually think it's less about probably the fines and removal from certain positions. It's more that that will be clear, it will be publicly known that that's what's happened, and I think that's a very significant deterrent for members of parliament and senators.

JOURNALIST: How close are we to getting a deal on aged care?

GALLAGHER: Look, the ministers have been working very closely with their Opposition counterparts. You know, there's more, a little bit more work to do. We are hopeful that we would reach agreement on aged care. Obviously, it's a significant and growing area, not only in demand for investments on the budget, but also in the numbers that are, in the next decade, that are going to be needing aged care support. So, we definitely know we need to reform the system, but there's more discussions to be had.

JOURNALIST: Will there be in the aged care package - should we be expecting significant public investment as part of it? We keep hearing about a user pays principle, which does seem to be important. But at the same time, is there going to be some indication of more public spending to invest in the sector?

GALLAGHER: Well I don't think it'll be any surprise that we will need to invest more in aged care, and that's really as you reform the system, but also as you accommodate the numbers that we expect will need aged care support over the next decade or so. It's obviously one of those significant costs on the budget, and I don't mean it in a negative way, that it's a cost on the budget. I see it as an investment and support. But it is one of those areas that's growing fast in the need to find expenditure. So, we need to, again, find a balance there about how we resource and fund the aged care sector going forward. That's been a part of the discussions, but it was a part of the aged care task force discussions as well.

JOURNALIST: We've seen a spark in domestic violence related deaths over the past year. How do you think the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children has gone over the past 12 months?

GALLAGHER: Well, there's no doubt there's more work to be done. I mean, I would love to wave a magic wand and have no domestic and family violence in this country. That's unfortunately not an option and so we have to continue to do the hard work. You know, we've set out our wanting to end it in a generation. We're putting behind that plan the resources and the effort. There's a huge amount of work going on, including the states and territories, but governments alone can't solve this problem. It's really a community-wide response that's going to, in the end, change the numbers and the impact that domestic violence has. I know Commissioner Cronin is speaking today at the Press Club. It will be her first report against the National Plan. That will be important. I think we have to continue to open our minds to new ways of responding to domestic and family violence. And the rapid review that we commissioned in the budget will be out this week, and that will have recommendations. And of course, we've got the National Cabinet discussion coming up in September as well. So yeah, a huge amount of work. Much more to be done.

JOURNALIST: Are you concerned Commissioner Cronin will unearth a lack of progress on the key reforms?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think it's really important we have independent eyes on this, which is why we have Commissioner Cronin and she's undertaken that role. I don't think governments can be defensive on this. You know, this is not a problem government can solve on its own, it's a community-wide problem. Anything we can do to raise awareness and shine fresh light on responses and ways of dealing with it is welcome, from my view. You know, it's not always going to be a rosy report card. Governments, you know, when you have set up these processes, you've got to be open to people saying we need to do things differently, or not enough has been done. And I've worked closely with Commissioner Cronin. She's a top rate, first rate individual who takes the job seriously, and I look forward to her report today.

JOURNALIST: Just on the NDIS bill. Do you expect that will be passed this week and other states happy with that legislation as it is?

GALLAGHER: Look, there's been a huge amount of work done by Bill Shorten, with the states. And I understand, you know, I wouldn't say they're all jumping around happy, but I understand that they are okay with the direction that we're going with this legislation. Again, they're co-managers of the scheme, in a sense, so we need to continue working with them. But it's an important piece of legislation. You know, when we talk about aged care and family and domestic violence, NDIS and the growing NDIS budget, we need to take action, otherwise we wouldn't have any money to fund all the other things we need to do across the budget. So, this legislation is really important that we get it in place, that we manage the growth of that scheme, and I am hopeful it will pass the Senate this week. Thank you.