Federal MPs will be subject to sanctions for bad behaviour in the workplace under new laws to be introduced in parliament.

It comes as fresh figures show MPs have been ejected from question time in the House of Representatives almost 200 times since May 2022.

The Labor government will on Wednesday introduce legislation to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.

The bill delivers on a recommendation in an Australian Human Rights Commission report – Set The Standard – into the culture in parliamentary workplaces.

The report was published three years ago following the alleged rape of then-Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in the ministerial office of Senator Linda Reynolds in 2019 by another staffer.

The standards commission will have the power to conduct workplace investigations and impose sanctions under behaviour codes for parliamentarians, their staff and other people who work in federal parliamentary workplaces.

The draft behaviour codes were endorsed in principle in 2023 and will be formally adopted once the commission bill passes.

The codes include requirements to foster respectful and inclusive workplaces, and a prohibition on bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, assault and discrimination.

On Wednesday, crossbench MP Kate Chaney said she was “absolutely horrified” at the behaviour in her first question time in 2022.

“I said to the other new people around me: Are we really going to be doing this every day?” the teal MP for the Western Australian seat of Curtin told ABC radio.

“The behaviour that happens in the house would not be tolerated in any other context in Australia, and I think if you’ve been there for a long time it becomes normalised, and you start to think this is just the culture of parliament.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Chaney said better behaviour was needed in the House.

“Definitely the wall of noise that comes from the Coalition when crossbenchers stand up to ask questions, I think, is absolutely appalling,” she said.

However, she said she didn’t know if the behaviour was misogynistic.

“I have trouble distinguishing between misogyny and poor behaviour,” she said.

There were fiery scenes in the House last week between Coalition MPs and another crossbench MP, Zali Steggall.

The MP for the Sydney seat of Warringah was heckled during a debate about visas for Palestinian refugees, before telling the opposition benches to “stop being racist”.

Afterwards, she was surrounded by fellow teals Chaney, Zoe Daniel, Sophie Scamps, Kylea Tink and Helen Haines. Government MPs, led by Tanya Plibersek, also sat with Steggall.

On Wednesday, Steggall said the problem went beyond parliament. She said she had received much public support since last week but also “the most revolting calls and emails”.

“What I experienced was a mob mentality, a complete unwillingness to even condone the idea that someone else could speak in the chamber, present a different view, or put a human face to a conflict. And that, I should say, came from the top,” she said.

“So my call is to Peter Dutton. He is the first to turn around in those situations and yell at and heckle, and the MPs under him, the Coalition MPs take their cues from his leadership, and that is unacceptable.”

Tink said enough was enough.

“I’ve become used to this type of condescending, unprofessional and often misogynistic behaviour from a number of male MPs from the Liberal and National parties,” she told The Guardian.

“It’s not just me, many people, often women, face this sort of behaviour in parliament – the likes of which would not be accepted in any other workplace.

“It’s clear the Coalition still has a woman problem and I doubt Peter Dutton has the backbone to call it out.”

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the government was committed to improving workplace behaviour and culture at Parliament House.

The sanctions imposed will depend on whether the respondent is a current or former parliamentarian, employee or other parliamentary workplace participant.

Responding to reports MPs could face sanctions of up to $11,000, Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan said he didn’t think it would work and questioned whether the commission would be used to make “vexatious” complaints.

“I mean, $11,000 is not going to be enough to deter badly behaving people,” he told Nine’s Today show.

“But the name and shame powers will be clearly enough to encourage a whole lot of frivolous and vexatious complaints just to try and take down your political opponents.”

Canavan also questioned the government’s rationale that the bill was justified because of events surrounding Higgins.

“This is a bill about MPs’ behaviour and Katy needs to answer exactly which MP, did the wrong thing in that saga because we’ve had a million or odd court cases and inquiries and it’s very clear through all of those that Senator Linda Reynolds, the government of the day, tried their best,” he said.

Higgins is defending a defamation action by Reynolds in the Western Australian Supreme Court.

Earlier in 2024, the Federal Court heard a defamation case brought by Bruce Lehrmann in NSW and found that on the balance of probabilities Higgins was raped in Parliament House.

He is appealing the decision and has denied the allegation.

-with AAP