How Daniel Andrews has team bigger than Scott Morrison’s

Daniel Andrews’ army of advisers has doubled and he now has more staffers than the Prime Minister — but it’s still unclear why.

Daniel Andrews has more staffers on hand than the Prime Minister, with his army of personal advisers doubling in size since he was elected to office.

New figures have revealed there are now 286 fulltime equivalent ministerial staffers employed by the government ,with 86 of them reporting ­directly to the Premier’s private office.

The number compares to just 51 employed by the Prime Minister’s office.

Treasurer Tim Pallas and Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan had the next-biggest teams with 13 each.

Daniel Andrews has more staffers than the Prime Minister. Picture: Daniel Pockett

The Premier’s office has ­refused to break down the roles of his massive ministerial team, but say it’s necessary to respond to state emergencies and the government’s “ambitious policy agenda”.

“Responding to the coronavirus pandemic, bushfire ­recovery and other emergencies, along with an ambitious policy agenda and increased responsibility for priority reform has contributed to higher demand for staffing resources,” a spokesman said.

The figures were ­revealed in answers provided to the parliamentary public ­accounts and estimates committee.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet did not provide head-count numbers for staff, just fulltime equivalent roles, prompting an appeal by the state opposition.

The ministerial staff numbers have ballooned, from 252 at the 2018 election, 219 in June 2016 and 183 under the Liberal Nationals in November 2014. At that time just 42 ministerial staffers were employed in the Premier’s private office, less than half the current figure.

It comes as the ministerial staff bill ballooned to almost $50 million, prompting concerns over skyrocketing costs at the taxpayers’ expense.

Ministerial staff costs hit $49.2m in 2019/20 — up $3m from the year before.

The opposition’s James Newbury slammed the growing team.

“Daniel Andrews now has a giant office to match his ego, with almost one-third of the government’s political staff working for the Premier,” he said. “He has grown the number of political staff in the same way as he has exploded the size of the public service.

“From buying Facebook friends to jobs for mates, Victorians know that Daniel ­Andrews and Labor will always waste taxpayer dollars to protect their own jobs.”

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