The Greens' deputy leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi will push for a draft code of conduct to be endorsed and adopted as soon as Federal Parliament returns in February.
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Senator Faruqi, a member of the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards, said a code of conduct in Parliament is desperately needed and hopes the government will adopt the recommendations and establish an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.
"I'm hoping that the government will very quickly, coming into the new year, adopt [the code] and also put in place the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission," she told The Canberra Times.
The development of the code of conduct for parliamentarians, their staffers and parliamentary workers was a key recommendation of Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' Set the Standard report, also known as the Jenkins review.
Minister for Finance and Women Katy Gallagher said the Albanese government is still committed implementing a code of conduct and Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.
"It's really important that we get this right and so we will work closely across the Parliament to implement a code of conduct in the new year," Senator Gallagher told The Canberra Times.
It is understood there is now work under way to make sure there is a consensus among the parties.
Senator Faruqi said the commission will still take a few months to set up and needs to be established before the code can be formally incorporated into parliamentary standards.
"But I think it can still be endorsed and adopted in the interim and I'll be pushing for that to happen as soon as Parliament starts again in February," the Greens' deputy leader said.
The commission will be responsible for enforcing the code, investigating allegations of breaches and imposing penalties such as sanctions and docking pay.
Senator Faruqi said the commission must be allowed to sanction people who breach the code, in order for people to be accountable and have consequences for their behaviour.
"I think it will be a big change in Parliament but without enforcement mechanisms and without sanctions, there will be little benefit from [the code]," she said.
Jenkins review a 'devastating indictment'
The 2021 Jenkins review found a culture of widespread bullying and harassment in Parliament and allegations of sexual assault among staffers and other parliamentary workers.
Senator Faruqi called the review a "devastating indictment" about the sexism and racism occurring in Parliament, but said it was also a "watershed moment because it captured the thoughts and feelings and experiences of so many people who had worked here".
"I think it did open many people's eyes who had been oblivious to this before, whether it was wilful or not."
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Senator Faruqi, who was born in Pakistan and served in NSW parliament, said "I have not experienced anything like what I've experienced in this Parliament; the sexism, the racism".
She said parliamentary committees need to have more people with lived experience of racism, including the the Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce, established to implement the recommendations of the Jenkins review.
"I think that needs to change because unless you have people with lived experience within those communities, it would be very easy to neglect or not fully capture what is required, what sort of change is required."
'A real effort' to change parliamentary culture
Senator Faruqi, who first entered Federal Parliament in 2018, said the Morrison-era parliament was "toxic" but the election of the Labor government was a "big moment of change".
She said the rise in women, people of colour and First Nations people elected "was a small increase" but "a positive sign that things actually are changing".
"Cultural change doesn't happen quickly. So just within a few months of a new government and a new parliament, is not enough time, I think, to have those changes made and done."
The Greens' deputy leader said changing parliamentary culture will require a "deliberate effort" which won't occur just because the government has changed.
In September, One National Senator Pauline Hanson tweeted at Senator Faruqi to "piss off back to Pakistan", but a censure motion against Senator Hanson failed to pass the Senate.
The Greens senator said she has seen "a real effort in terms of the tone that is being set" about behaviour in the Senate, but a code is still needed.
"Obviously, it's nowhere near what I want, but I'm hoping that with the code in place, there will be a real framework for the presiding officer and others, to actually very explicitly tell people in the chamber that this is not acceptable."