How to detoxify the bearpit? Have fewer bears

Nine months after the tabling of Jenkins’ Set the Standard report – and just as our stomachs were recovering from the scandalous behaviour it exposed in the federal parliament – the Broderick review has hit our desks with a thud, this time with a focus on the culture in the NSW parliament.

Two extraordinary women, both sex discrimination commissioners (one current and one former), both charged with reviewing parliamentary workplaces because of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct. It’s ironic that two accomplished women – Kate Jenkins and Elizabeth Broderick – have been sent in to clean up a culture that exists due to the bear-pit nature of Australia’s parliaments.

Premier Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor addressing the media after the release of the Broderick review on Friday.Credit: Louise Kennerley

But there’s one way to improve the bear pit: reduce the number of bears.

In the federal report, gender inequality was cited as a driver of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault within parliament. And by “crowding out women at the most senior levels … a male-dominated and testosterone-fuelled culture dominates”.

The findings of the Broderick review are unsurprisingly similar to the federal review. That is, power imbalances – combined with the high-intensity, win-at-all-cost attitudes – led to an environment where ambition trumps accountability and enables a culture that encourages, tolerates and even enables misconduct. Career politicians and staffers who’ve never worked beyond this culture have no understanding of the standards the rest of us are held to in our workplaces. Throw alcohol into the mix and the vulnerable can become collateral damage.

In the NSW parliament review, “collateral damage” is disproportionately borne by women, younger people and staffers from the LGBTQIA+ community, with MPs identified as the main perpetrators of some of the worst behaviour.

Licia Heath, chief executive of Women for Election Australia: “Gender and cultural parity improve the working culture.”Credit:

Woven through both reports are the statements “The culture allowed it” and “The culture comes from the [political] parties, because that is where the consequences will come from.”

At Women for Election, we know that culture is one of the “5 Cs” – the barriers to women entering politics. The other Cs are candidate selection, confidence, cash and caring responsibilities.

Women for Election is a non-partisan organisation with a mission to inspire and equip more women to run for public office at all levels in Australia. We run candidate-training events, with 43 graduates standing in the 2022 federal election, from across the political spectrum. Four of them got elected. But all of them won. They won because, just by running, they changed the conversation in their electorates and their courage was witnessed by countless other women and girls.

As demonstrated in business and on boards across Australia, as well as in overseas parliaments, gender and cultural parity improve the working culture. When there are more women present, men behave better.

The number of women MPs in Canberra increased significantly after the federal election in May.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

It’s a sorry state of affairs for women in both houses of the NSW parliament. Of the Legislative Assembly’s 93 members, 32 are women. Twelve of the Legislative Council’s 42 members are women. These numbers fall woefully short of the critical mass needed to attract more women into politics, and they make NSW one of the worst state parliaments in the country for women’s representation.

The Broderick report recommends introducing new systems “with a view to increasing access to leadership and authority roles for women, First Nations people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people who identify as LGBTIQ+ and people with disability. This could include setting targets to ensure representation of these groups in positions of leadership and authority.”

The record-breaking number of women now sitting in both houses in Canberra means that more women across the country are asking how they can get involved, with many focused on state elections in Victoria and NSW – some with parties, some as independents.

Unfortunately, the public won’t be surprised at the Broderick review’s revelations. While that is a sad indictment on the mistrust of our political institutions, this was the review we had to have. What’s critical now is how the culture and processes are improved. The NSW government could take immediate steps and commit that its “workplace bosses”, namely the Speaker and President, are assigned to female leaders or diverse voices in our Parliament.

Only three months ago, a federal government was punished for not acting swiftly to respond to the concerns of women voters. It’s up to the NSW government to show it is committed to providing a safe workplace enriched by members as diverse as the populations they govern. The time to solve this was 25 years ago; the second-best time is today.

Licia Heath is chief executive of Women for Election.