Opened the debate
Gorman argued that the bill would allow the statutory reviews of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Act 2023, the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, and the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 to be combined into a holistic review. Gorman stated that this consolidation would enable an integrated examination of the systems governing Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces, thereby reducing the risk of contradictory outcomes. Gorman noted that existing legislated timeframes prevented contemporaneous reviews, which the bill would rectify by allowing the combined review to commence from 23 March 2026. Gorman further argued that aligning the frequency of future reviews to every five years would provide sufficient time for recommendations to be implemented and for changes to mature. Gorman concluded that this approach would reduce review fatigue for parliamentarians and their staff while ensuring the frameworks accorded with community expectations.