Flexible hours key to women in politics

Warning politics is ‘still a men’s game’ on 100-year anniversary of the first woman in an Australian parliament.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher decided to run in the Legislative Assembly because there was only one female MP at the time. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher has called for an overhaul of the way federal parliament sits and a move towards a more flexible workplace, saying scrutiny of how MPs and staffers do business should form part of an independent review into the culture.

Warning Australian politics was “still a men’s game in many ways”, Senator Gallagher said the “pressure-cooker environment” parliamentarians and staff worked in was no excuse for poor behaviour but had to be understood in order for there to be lasting change.

The Australian interviewed Senator Gallagher and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston to mark 100 years of women in parliament. Edith Cowan became the first woman elected in Australia – to the West Australian parliament — on this day in 1921.

Edith Cowan (1861-1932) advocated for the welfare of women and children and was the first Australian woman to enter parliament at age 59. Picture: Supplied

“We’ve definitely made progress,” Senator Gallagher, the ­opposition finance spokes­woman, said. “It’s not like you’re novel (as a woman in politics) but we still fall short of where I think we would like to be, which is full equality across the parliament.

Graphic for women in politics story

“If we want women in politics then politics should be able to ­accommodate children a lot better. Women also have other caring responsibilities as they get older. We have long sitting hours, estimates hearings from 9am to 11pm. I don’t think when you’re sitting there looking at a menu of career options you go, ‘oh, great, that looks wild, I’ll be able to ­juggle everything, I’ll be able to be away from home 20 weeks of the year’.”

The former ACT chief minister said when she worked in the Legislative Assembly it shortened sitting hours to 10am to 6pm, stopped parliamentarians from filibustering and changed standing orders so speeches had to be “a lot more succinct”.

“(Federal parliament) is high-stress, the hours are often unreasonable, the pressure people are under contributes to the culture in the place,” she said.

The “pressure-cooker environment” should be looked at as part of Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’ new ­inquiry, Senator Gallagher said.

Ms Jenkins has been tasked with a nine-month review that will make recommendations to prevent and better handle bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in federal parliament.

The inquiry was established after former Liberal staffer Brit­tany Higgins alleged she was raped by a colleague at Parliament House in 2019 in then ­defence industry minister Linda Reynolds’ office.

Senator Ruston said the political debate in the wake of Ms Higgins’ allegation had missed “how extraordinarily unique” the workplace was.

“We’re largely all fly-in, fly-out, we’re not at home and don’t have all those support mechanisms most people go home to every night. We have 227 individual employers and every one of those brings a different experience. We need to understand how unique our environment is, that’s why Kate Jenkins’ review is so ­important around specific process to put in place to understand and reflect that very unique environment. How do we ensure in this ­diverse environment we’ve got the necessary things in place to make sure all our employees feel safe?”

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston “didn’t really mean” to enter federal parliament but seized an unexpected opportunity when a casual vacancy presented itself in 2012. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Manager of government business in the Senate and a key negotiator with the crossbench, Senator Ruston said she had never experienced a culture of cover-up of sexual harassment or assault during her time in the building. “I’ve always felt my views and opinions were valued in discussion, whether it be in the parliament, chamber, partyroom, in cabinet, in ERC (expenditure review committee), in discussion with colleagues, having a bite to eat,” she said. “I do not diminish in any way the experiences others have had or had recently come forward and articulated.”