edited
3rd Sep 2021
Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021 - in Committee - Positive duty amendment
Not passed
No rebellions 32% attendance
2nd Sep 2021, 1:10 PM – Representatives Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021 - Consideration in Detail - Implement the 55 recommendations
Summary
EditThe majority voted in favour of disagreeing with amendments introduced by Watson MP Tony Burke (Labor), which means they failed.
What do the amendments do?
Mr Burke explained that:
the purpose of these amendments is to do what the government said it was going to do, which is to implement all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report. The amendments do the following: the objects to include achieving gender equality, recommendation 16(a) of the Respect@Work report; the seriously demeaning threshold, recommendation 16(b) of the Respect@Work report; and implementing the hostile environment clauses, recommendation 16(c) of the Respect@Work report. Recommendations 17 and 18 of the Respect@Work report call for a positive duty and compliance powers for the Human Rights Commission. It's not in the government legislation. This amendment will put it there. Recommendation 19 of the Respect@Work report is to implement them. Recommendation 23 of the report is to implement representative actions to allow unions and other representative groups to bring representative claims to court as per complaints to the commission. Recommendation 25 of the Respect@Work report is for the commission to implement cost protections. They're the changes to the Sex Discrimination Act and other acts that were recommended in the report that are not in the current bill.
As for the recommendations for amendments to the Fair Work Act that were in the Respect@Work report, recommendations 28 and 29 deal with the prohibition on sexual harassment in the Fair Work Act and having a complaints process to be able to deal with it. Further, the amendments have an extension of the 'stop sexual harassment order', as per the Human Rights Commission recommendation to the Senate enquiry; and they deal with the recommendation for 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave to be included in the National Employment Standards.
Amendment text
The amendment text is available of this page.
Votes Passed by a small majority
Nobody rebelled against their party.
| Party | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Bandt Melbourne Australian Greens | Absent | |
| Australian Labor Party (24% turnout) | 0 Yes – 16 No | |
| Anthony Albanese Grayndler | No | |
| Tony Burke Watson | No | |
| Terri Butler Griffith | No | |
| Sharon Claydon Newcastle | No | |
| Milton Dick Oxley | No | |
| Mike Freelander Macarthur | No | |
| Andrew Giles Scullin | No | |
| Chris Hayes Fowler | No | |
| Julian Hill Bruce | No | |
| Stephen Jones Whitlam | No | |
| Andrew Leigh Fenner | No | |
| Alicia Payne Canberra | No | |
| David Smith Bean | No | |
| Anne Stanley Werriwa | No | |
| Susan Templeman Macquarie | No | |
| Tony Zappia Makin | No | |
| Anne Aly Cowan | Absent | |
| Sharon Bird Cunningham | Absent | |
| Chris Bowen McMahon | Absent | |
| Linda Burney Barton | Absent | |
| Josh Burns Macnamara | Absent | |
| Mark Butler Hindmarsh | Absent | |
| Anthony Byrne Holt | Absent | |
| Jim Chalmers Rankin | Absent | |
| Nick Champion Spence | Absent | |
| Lisa Chesters Bendigo | Absent | |
| Jason Clare Blaxland | Absent | |
| Libby Coker Corangamite | Absent | |
| Julie Collins Franklin | Absent | |
| Pat Conroy Shortland | Absent | |
| Mark Dreyfus Isaacs | Absent | |
| Justine Elliot Richmond | Absent | |
| Joel Fitzgibbon Hunter | Absent | |
| Steve Georganas Adelaide | Absent | |
| Patrick Gorman Perth | Absent | |
| Luke Gosling Solomon | Absent | |
| Ed Husic Chifley | Absent | |
| Ged Kearney Cooper | Absent | |
| Matt Keogh Burt | Absent | |
| Peter Khalil Wills | Absent | |
| Catherine King Ballarat | Absent | |
| Madeleine King Brand | Absent | |
| Richard Marles Corio | Absent | |
| Kristy McBain Eden-Monaro | Absent | |
| Emma McBride Dobell | Absent | |
| Brian Mitchell Lyons | Absent | |
| Rob Mitchell McEwen | Absent | |
| Daniel Mulino Fraser | Absent | |
| Peta Murphy Dunkley | Absent | |
| Shayne Neumann Blair | Absent | |
| Brendan O'Connor Gorton | Absent | |
| Clare O'Neil Hotham | Absent | |
| Julie Owens Parramatta | Absent | |
| Graham Perrett Moreton | Absent | |
| Fiona Phillips Gilmore | Absent | |
| Tanya Plibersek Sydney | Absent | |
| Amanda Rishworth Kingston | Absent | |
| Michelle Rowland Greenway | Absent | |
| Joanne Ryan Lalor | Absent | |
| Bill Shorten Maribyrnong | Absent | |
| Warren Snowdon Lingiari | Absent | |
| Meryl Swanson Paterson | Absent | |
| Matt Thistlethwaite Kingsford Smith | Absent | |
| Kate Thwaites Jagajaga | Absent | |
| Maria Vamvakinou Calwell | Absent | |
| Tim Watts Gellibrand | Absent | |
| Anika Wells Lilley | Absent | |
| Josh Wilson Fremantle | Absent | |
| Rebekha Sharkie Mayo Centre Alliance | Absent | |
| Mark Coulton Parkes Deputy Speaker | Absent | |
| Helen Haines Indi Independent | No | |
| Zali Steggall Warringah Independent | Absent | |
| Andrew Wilkie Clark Independent | Absent | |
| Bob Katter Kennedy Katter's Australian Party | Absent | |
| Liberal National Party (0% turnout) | Absent | |
| Angie Bell Moncrieff | Absent | |
| Garth Hamilton Groom | Absent | |
| Julian Simmonds Ryan | Absent | |
| Phillip Thompson Herbert | Absent | |
| Terry Young Longman | Absent | |
| Liberal Party (31% turnout) | 17 Yes – 0 No | |
| Katie Allen Higgins | Yes | |
| Karen Andrews McPherson | Yes | |
| Vince Connelly Stirling | Yes | |
| Paul Fletcher Bradfield | Yes | |
| Nicolle Flint Boothby | Yes | |
| Josh Frydenberg Kooyong | Yes | |
| Greg Hunt Flinders | Yes | |
| Sussan Ley Farrer | Yes | |
| Christian Porter Pearce | Yes | |
| Melissa Price Durack | Yes | |
| Rowan Ramsey Grey | Yes | |
| Stuart Robert Fadden | Yes | |
| James Stevens Sturt | Yes | |
| Angus Taylor Hume | Yes | |
| Dan Tehan Wannon | Yes | |
| Alan Tudge Aston | Yes | |
| Ken Wyatt Hasluck | Yes | |
| John Alexander Bennelong | Absent | |
| Kevin Andrews Menzies | Absent | |
| Bridget Archer Bass | Absent | |
| Russell Broadbent Monash | Absent | |
| Scott Buchholz Wright | Absent | |
| David Coleman Banks | Absent | |
| Peter Dutton Dickson | Absent | |
| Warren Entsch Leichhardt | Absent | |
| Trevor Evans Brisbane | Absent | |
| Jason Falinski Mackellar | Absent | |
| Ian Goodenough Moore | Absent | |
| Celia Hammond Curtin | Absent | |
| Andrew Hastie Canning | Absent | |
| Alex Hawke Mitchell | Absent | |
| Luke Howarth Petrie | Absent | |
| Steve Irons Swan | Absent | |
| Andrew Laming Bowman | Absent | |
| Julian Leeser Berowra | Absent | |
| Gladys Liu Chisholm | Absent | |
| Nola Marino Forrest | Absent | |
| Fiona Martin Reid | Absent | |
| Melissa McIntosh Lindsay | Absent | |
| Scott Morrison Cook | Absent | |
| Ben Morton Tangney | Absent | |
| Ted O'Brien Fairfax | Absent | |
| Tony Pasin Barker | Absent | |
| Gavin Pearce Braddon | Absent | |
| Dave Sharma Wentworth | Absent | |
| Michael Sukkar Deakin | Absent | |
| Bert Van Manen Forde | Absent | |
| Ross Vasta Bonner | Absent | |
| Andrew Wallace Fisher | Absent | |
| Lucy Wicks Robertson | Absent | |
| Rick Wilson O'Connor | Absent | |
| Tim Wilson Goldstein | Absent | |
| Jason Wood La Trobe | Absent | |
| Trent Zimmerman North Sydney | Absent | |
| National Party (40% turnout) | 6 Yes – 0 No | |
| Andrew Gee Calare | Yes | |
| David Gillespie Lyne | Yes | |
| Barnaby Joyce New England | Yes | |
| Michael McCormack Riverina | Yes | |
| Ken O'Dowd Flynn | Yes | |
| Keith Pitt Hinkler | Yes | |
| Darren Chester Gippsland | Absent | |
| George Christensen Dawson | Absent | |
| Pat Conaghan Cowper | Absent | |
| Damian Drum Nicholls | Absent | |
| Kevin Hogan Page | Absent | |
| Michelle Landry Capricornia | Absent | |
| David Littleproud Maranoa | Absent | |
| Llew O'Brien Wide Bay | Absent | |
| Anne Webster Mallee | Absent | |
| Tony Smith Casey Speaker | Absent | |
| Craig Kelly Hughes United Australia Party | Absent | |
| Totals (26% turnout) | 23 Yes – 17 No |
Turnout is the percentage of members eligible to vote that did vote.