Bill
Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2024
lapsed, as at 2025-07-21. Attorney-General portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Attorney-General
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2024-11-27
- second reading — 2024-11-27
- second reading — 2025-02-04
- other — 2025-02-04
- second reading — 2025-02-06
- second reading — 2025-02-06
- other — 2025-02-06
- third reading — 2025-02-06
- introduced — 2025-02-10
- second reading — 2025-02-10
- other — 2025-07-21
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2024-11-27.
This bill would create a new Act to protect Commonwealth workers and workplaces from violent or harmful behaviour by members of the public.
A court could issue a workplace protection order on application by an authorised person if it finds the respondent has committed personal violence related to a worker's duties and there is a real risk of further violence.
A final order would last no more than two years and could not be made against someone under 14, with breach punishable by up to 120 penalty units and imprisonment.
- Establishes the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Act 2024 as a new principal Act.
- Allows an authorised person to apply to a court for a workplace protection order on behalf of a worker or workplace.
- Creates a criminal offence for contravening a workplace protection order.
- Requires a review of the Act's operation after three years.
Commonwealth workers, especially those in frontline service delivery such as at Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office, and members of the public who visit Commonwealth workplaces.
Sources
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