A culture that looks backwards to at least the 1980s

By Verona Burgess

December 3, 2021

Scott Morrison drenched in light
Scott Morrison speaking to Kate Jenkins’ findings about parliamentary workplace culture. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The latest figures on alleged bullying and sexual harassment in the Australian Public Service show a continued pattern of chronic under-reporting, albeit with some improvement.

But such problems in the APS pale into insignificance compared with the shameful exposé of tawdry parliamentary workplace culture detailed by sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins in her long-awaited report, Set the Standard.

While this week’s State of the Service Report (SOSR) for 2020-21 shows much work is still needed to report harassment and bullying in the APS, it is impossible to imagine a federal department secretary following this grubby parliamentary example: “[T]he MP sitting beside me leaned over.

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