Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, , 7:59:27 to 8:07:38
Dr. Steven Kennedy addresses the Secretaries Board submission on behavior codes, focusing on the protection of public servants from intimidation and social media harassment.
Topics: Workplace culture, Integrity
Speakers: Dr Steven Kennedy, Senator Karen Grogan, Hon Penny Wong
media, in my view, has provided a platform for this behavior. To date and in this regard, social media has not been a virtual public square encouraging informed debate and promoting democracy. It has often been a platform for unacceptable comments and Let me now turn to the secretaries board The secretary's board is established by section 64 of the public service act. It is comprised of all departmental secretaries, the Australian public service commissioner and other such and such other persons as nominated by the secretary of the department of the prime minister and cabinet. Currently the chief executive officer of the national indigenous Australians agency is a member of the board. I am the chair of the board and the commissioner is the deputy chair. The functions of the board are set out in subsection 643 of the public service act and include taking responsibility for stewardship of the Australian public service, considering issues that affect the APS and modeling leadership behaviors. Secretaries and other senior public officials have a particular responsibility both legally and ethically for the health and safety of Australian public servants. This includes a duty to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of public servants while they are The board is concerned that some conduct conduct during committee hearings may put at risk the health of public servants appearing as witnesses and may consequence consequently engage the duties of senior officials and parliamentarians under the work health and safety act. We have set out some examples of conduct we are concerned about in our submission, including examples where individual public servants have been accused of engaging in criminal conduct, being racist, gross violations of human rights, and engaging in acts deliberately intended to harm In our view, conduct that demeanes, intimidates, humiliates, or personally targets witnesses is inconsistent with the expectations established by the behavior standards and behavior code. Section seven of the behavior code for Australian parliamentarians provides that parliamentarians must treat all those with whom they come into contact in the course of their parliamentary duties and activities with dignity, courtesy, fairness and respect. Similarly, the behavior standards note that people in parliamentary workplaces must act respectfully and As the committee is aware, the behavior code goes on to state in section 8 that parliamentarians as employers and leaders in the community have a leading role to play in fostering a healthy, safe, respectful, and inclusive environment where all people feel safe and valued. The behavior standards note that people in parliamentary workplaces must uphold laws that support safe and respectful workplaces, including work health and safety laws. Of course, this is not a one-way street. It is incumbent on all public servants to be aware of and act in accordance with their obligations under the APS values and code of conduct as established under the public service act. When appearing before parliamentary committees, public servants should familiarize themselves with the government guidelines for official witnesses before parliamentary committees and related matters which are intended to assist in the freest possible flow of information to the parliament. To that end, the guidelines provide that public servants appearing before parliamentary committees should be open, respectful, and courteous. It is now common practice for many parliamentarians to broadcast interactions with public servants, appearing before committees through social media. Secretaries understand the importance of parliamentarians being able to reach their constituencies by whatever means is most effective. As the committee knows, the Senate provides for the broadcasting of proceedings of a committee for the purposes only of making fair and accurate reports of those proceedings. The board is concerned that broadcast by parliamentarians may not always be fair and accurate reports of what has occurred before a committee. We are aware of examples where in our view evidence has been truncated or taken out of context in ways that misrepresent what occurred or would likely be misleading to the public. We are also aware of examples where evidence has been edited in ways that invite ridicule, hostility, or abuse directed at individual public servants. We do not ask that public servants be shielded from fair or accurate reporting of what has been said before a committee, nor that we become the arbiters of these issues. However, in response to a parliamentary committee inquiry which seeks views on all these matters, we thought it would be useful for the inquiry to hear our views and observations. Moreover, an unfortunate feature of social media is that it provides an all too easy platform for those who would espouse misogynistic, racist, or violent views. Unfortunately, some public servants have been the subject of vile abuse and threats online in response to clips made by parliamentarians. We give some examples of this type of abuse in abuse in the submission. public servants quickly become aware when they are subject to this kind of abuse, be that through their own social media use through colleagues or family and friends. We do not ask that parliamentarians to assist from fair and accurate reporting of what has been said before a committee, but we would ask that they take reasonable steps to moderate comments and messages and to remove abusive or otherwise harmful responses. We are aware of some parliamentarians who have done this when alerted to the existence of such commentary and this is greatly appreciated. Finally, I would note that secretaries have observed that is of that it is often female public servants and those from first nation and core backgrounds who experience the more egregious forms of abuse on social media. In closing, secretaries welcome the resolution agreed to by the Senate on 9th September regarding the broadcast and publication of proceedings. The resolution sets out clearly the responsibilities and powers of senators and the Senate and the accountabilities of public servants. And as our submission states, committee hearings are intended to facilitate robust examination of government administration, expenditure, and performance. Public confidence in both parliament and official witnesses is best served when those when those proceedings are rigorous, robust and respectful. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an opening statement. I look forward to the questions.
>> Thank you Dr. Kennedy. Um just for the process of um what's you know we are running behind. Um Dr. Kennedy is with us for an hour as per Senate order. Um I would also note that um Minister Wong um needs to leave at 6 and we'll be um we will be subbing in Minister Ayres between 6:00 and 6:30.
>> So I'll come back
>> and yeah that I was getting to that bit
>> just in case we missed me. I'll be back. >> Yeah, hold on. I'll have to jump in now. Okay.
>> Um so we will take the dinner break from 6:30 to 7:30 as per the agenda and Minister Wong will return at 7:30. Um, for the purpose of this next block, if we can prioritize the questions for Dr. Kennedy, um, that would be great. And we will be running in 10-minute blocks. And we will start with Senator Hume.