Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Act 2025

A person engages in personal violence if:

the person engages, or makes a threat to engage, in conduct that directly or indirectly causes harm or a reasonable fear of harm to:

a Commonwealth worker; or

an individual at a Commonwealth workplace; and

if subparagraph (a)(i) applies—the person engages in the conduct or makes the threat because of the Commonwealth worker’s status as a Commonwealth worker; and

the conduct or threat directly or indirectly interferes with the functioning of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth.

For example, conduct or a threat may interfere with the functioning of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth if it interferes with:

the ability of a Commonwealth worker to perform their functions or duties as a Commonwealth worker; or

the performance of functions or exercise of powers of the Commonwealth; or

the ability of a person to access benefits or services provided by the Commonwealth in a safe environment.

The Commonwealth worker is the affected worker in relation to the personal violence.

The Commonwealth workplace is the affected workplace in relation to the personal violence.

For the purposes of subsection (1), a person’s conduct is taken to cause harm if it substantially contributes to harm.

For the purposes of subsection (1), a threat may be:

express or implied; or

conditional or unconditional.