Abuse under parliamentary privilege will be outside new commission’s remit. Is that a bad thing?

The slow process to remove politicians’ privileged status of being able to bully and harass staff and behave in ways that wouldn’t be tolerated in other workplaces took another step forward yesterday with the introduction of the bill to establish a new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission. The new commission will be able to investigate complaints against parliamentarians, staff employed by them and workers in Parliament House, with powers to compel cooperation.

At least one Coalition MP opposes the commission as putting “another line of unelected bureaucrats between politicians and voters”, as if the freedom to bully, harass and sexually predate on staff should be part and parcel of democracy and politicians shouldn’t be held to the same basic standards as every other worker in the country.

Given the sheer level of bullying that goes on inside political offices — talk to a political staffer, they’ll tell you a tale of the bullying they’ve encountered at some point, including by some of the most prominent politicians in the country — it’s likely that that will form the bulk of the...