Page 3935 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 29 October 2013
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The main point I would like to emphasise today is that I would like to see this Assembly cooperate to find workable solutions to this problem. I think there are steps we can take. It is one thing to make accusations of the government that it flames a culture of bullying. I think that is unhelpful. It is another thing to put politics aside and actually see what practical solutions we can find for a widespread problem that impacts all areas of the workforce.
As a psychosocial hazard, bullying is quite complicated. It is not as straightforward to address and prevent bullying as it is to address and prevent more traditional workplace hazards—for example a physical danger like exposed electrical wires. Incidents of apparent bullying often involve a considerable degree of subjectivity. What this suggests, and what literature and recent practice suggest, is that we need quite a nuanced response that particularly makes use of accumulated knowledge and expertise in fields like sociology and psychology.
It is for this reason that in 2011 and 2012 the ACT Greens, through my former colleague Amanda Bresnan, progressed legislation that was intended to help address bullying and other psychosocial hazards in ACT workplaces. The Greens’ Work Health and Safety (Bullying) Amendment Bill would have required the ACT’s Work Health and Safety Authority, WorkSafe, to have at least three of their inspectors with specialised expertise or experience in dealing with bullying in the workplace and other workplace psychosocial issues. It also would have established an ACT expert advisory committee in relation to bullying in the workplace and other workplace psychosocial issues.
The changes were intended to enhance the ACT’s ability to respond to bullying issues, take preventative action against bullying and implement best practice and innovative laws and procedures. As Ms Bresnan emphasised at the time, similar measures have been implemented in Queensland and Victoria, and they have been successful in their operation.
Unfortunately, this bill did not pass the ACT Assembly. The government said at the time that it did not think that this was the best way to deal with bullying. That was disappointing. The Liberal Party’s position was also disappointing, as well as a little incoherent. Mrs Dunne, for the Liberal Party, argued that changing the legislation would not be enough to stop bullying, that the bill was too prescriptive and also that the government was doing the things proposed in the bill. Instead, this debate was used as an opportunity, as usual, to blame bullying on the culture of the ACT government.
Some positives resulted from that legislation. The Assembly did pass part of the bill to expand the remit of the Work Safety Council so that it included the topic of bullying. It was not all that we wanted to achieve with the bill, but I think it is positive and it gives a clear direction to the council. Since then we have also seen the ACT government progress some work, such as the ACT public service culture and behaviour consultation project, which I understand will lead to a revised code of conduct for the public sector management standards. I am quite keen to hear an update on that project, as I do not believe the standards have been updated since 2006.
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