Page 1727 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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The minister’s statement says clearly that everyone in the workplace deserves to be treated with respect and courtesy and that every worker has the right to feel safe in their workplace. In the event that a staff member has concerns, they have a right to have their concerns heard. Well, for two years, minister, I can assure you, the staff did not have their concerns heard. There were people who lost careers and people who have gone into serious health depression issues that are still an issue to our community. Many of them are still suffering.
That is all the staff at CIT wanted—someone to listen. In my office I have volumes of material that shows that staff had none of that—they did not feel safe. They were subject to repeated cases of bullying. They tried to have their concerns heard and their concerns were dismissed time and time and time again.
For those people the words today are small comfort, minister, unless they are backed up by continuous evidence of change. And there must be change. The culture must change and there must be the open and independent scrutiny that the WorkSafe ACT report proposed. If I understand correctly, the Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate face some similar issues with the bullying that took place at Canberra Hospital. How many obstetricians had to resign before an inquiry was called? Is this the same Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate that we are talking about? So are we referring these issues to a process that has been seen to be faulty in the past? I ask the question, minister. I would be interested in your answer.
The words today are small comfort, as I said. The report highlighted one of the major flaws in the review process. The commissioner noted that the use of Shared Services to review complaints was not seen as truly independent of the employer, and he proposed as an alternative process a panel of independent investigators be established so that all parties involved in grievances and complaints could be satisfied as to the independence of any of the individuals and/or organisations investigating such matters. I put this matter to you once again, minister: is this the independent panel of independent investigators that Mr McCabe was referring to? I will be very interested to hear about your assessment of the independence of the panel you put in place, or, indeed, of your independence to say that it is at your direction that this is being done. Whether the proposed structure will meet that independent scrutiny test is yet to be proven. I look forward to hearing from you on it.
The minister says that the senior management team will lead by example and that the improvement action group is a good start. But it is only a beginning to a long and deep process of cultural and attitudinal change, and long and deep cultural and attitudinal change is imperative. The improvement action group will need to do more than just tick the boxes in workplace reform. The senior management team will need to lead by example, and they will need to examine their own behaviours and own up to their own failings.
I am aware, minister, that some of those who were the perpetrators of some of the bullying are still employed at CIT. Unlike the subjects of their harassment, they have not lost their health; they have not felt the need to resign; they are still there. Presumably, they are part of the healing process you are talking about.
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