Government ministers ordered to complete anti-harassment training

The training will be mandatory for government ministers and their staff as part of the response to a review sparked by Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation.

Brittany Higgins.

Sexual assault and harassment allegations involving MPs and parliamentary staffers dating back more than two years will come under the microscope of a new independent complaints team, as part of historic reforms to be established in federal parliament.

On Monday, the Morrison government confirmed it would enact all 10 recommendations from an internal review – sparked by former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’s rape allegation – aimed at cleaning up parliament’s workplace complaints procedures for serious incidents. The changes were proposed in a report by one of Scott Morrison’s most senior officials, Stephanie Foster.

On Twitter, Ms Higgins said the reforms would ensure Parliament House was a “safer workplace for all future employees … “I am so pleased to hear that all 10 recommendations of the Foster review will be implemented.”

Government ministers and their staff will also be forced to complete mandatory training. MPs who do not complete the education program will be named and shamed, with a public register to list all parliamentarians who undertake the training.

The independent complaints body, which will cover alleged incidents in the current parliamentary term, will be established within six weeks. Complaints by former staff could be submitted if the accused still worked in parliament.

Greens women’s spokeswoman Larissa Waters said limiting the complaint process to incidents that occurred in the current parliament was an “insult” because it often took survivors many years to speak about an assault.

“It won’t even be able to investigate Brittany Higgins’s case or the cases of other staffers inspired by Ms Higgins to reveal earlier assaults,” she said. “A new term of government doesn’t mean a clean slate for abusers. This arbitrary deadline means that survivors like Brittany Higgins, who are placated, moved around and kept quiet until after the next election, lose the chance to be heard.”

Some government MPs and the opposition had called for the new complaints team to be able to retrospectively investigate incidents from past parliaments so as to capture politicians who had left Parliament House since the alleged incident.

A procedure to deal with historical allegations will be addressed by Sex Discrimination Com­missioner Kate Jenkins, who is conducting an independent review of parliament’s workplace culture.

A serious incident team will also be established to provide support and advice to victims and people accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and systemic bullying. The face-to-face anti-harassment training, to be compulsory for Coalition ministers and their staff, will be rolled out from September. Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, who is leading the government’s consultation on Ms Foster’s report, said ­Coalition frontbenchers would have to complete the training to remain in the ministry. “The ultimate consequences is to cease to be a minister,” he said.

Tender documents revealed the training would be one hour for MPs and their chiefs of staff and two hours for other staff members.

Ms Jenkins’s parliamentary culture report is due to be handed down in November.

The Prime Minister said Ms Foster’s advice would provide “important reforms” ahead of Ms Jenkins’s findings. A progress report from Ms Jenkins revealed 345 people, including 16 current and former politicians, had participated in the inquiry. Three-quarters of the participants were female.

The Australian Federal Police in May said it had received 19 reports of alleged sex crimes and other “sensitive matters” involving federal MPs and staff since Ms Higgins went public with her ­allegations.