‘Payman is correct’: Senators call for parliament staff overhaul

Crossbench senators want the prime minister to be stripped of the power to determine fellow parliamentarians’ staffing levels, arguing the current system is unfair and prone to abuse.

Independent senator Fatima Payman, who quit Labor last month, revived a long-running debate about staffing allocations in Parliament House by saying last week that she had written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seeking an extra two staff, in line with staff numbers received by other crossbench senators.

United … for now: Crossbench senators (from left) Ralph Babet, Jacqui Lambie, Fatima Payman, David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Payman said her workload was so intense she would be forced to abstain from voting on complex legislation unless she received more support.

Her call for extra staff was backed by United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, who sits at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum to the progressive West Australian.

“Payman is correct: the workload on the crossbench is massive and we are at a distinct disadvantage,” Babet said.

“Give Senator Payman equal staff and stop playing games, prime minister.”

Babet said crossbenchers received four senior staff in the previous parliament, an allocation that has now been cut to one senior staff member and one assistant, on top of his five state office employees.

“I believe this was a deliberate attempt by the prime minister to stifle the crossbench and get us out of the way,” he said.

Staffing levels for crossbench MPs are determined by the prime minister, who decides how many advisers they receive on top of the base allowance of five electorate staff.

Crossbench MPs were infuriated after Labor’s election victory when the government proposed providing one additional full-time staff member at the adviser classification, down from up to four previously.

Senator Fatima Payman quit Labor last month.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Senate crossbenchers were later granted two personal advisers each under an arrangement with Albanese.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock said: “When it comes to personal staff, I believe that this is a decision that should be set independently for all parliamentarians based on a fair assessment of workloads and resourcing needs.

“Having personal staff be a gift that the prime minister can give or withhold raises issues of integrity, probity and fairness ... We have seen this play out over the course of the past few parliaments and on both sides of politics where staffing allocations have been used to both praise and punish.”

Pocock said staffing levels could be determined by the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission, set up as a response to the Jenkins review into sexual harassment in Parliament House.

‘Having personal staff be a gift that the prime minister can give or withhold raises issues of integrity, probity and fairness.’

Senator David Pocock

Lidia Thorpe, who left the Greens last year to join the crossbench, said: “It doesn’t make sense that the prime minister gets to call the shots on this because that just gives them the opportunity to interfere with and undermine non-government parliamentarians, like it appears Albanese is with Senator Payman, and Labor have done in the past when they cut staffing allocations.”

Thorpe said crossbench senators and their staff often faced enormous workloads, and that it would be difficult to cast informed votes without the support of the additional advisers she had been allocated.

“It’s clear that many Labor backbenchers aren’t across the detail of Labor’s own legislation when they’re voting,” she said. “They claim to represent their electorates despite just blindly voting as they’re told.”

The prime minister’s office was contacted for comment.

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said: “How offices are resourced should not be up to the government of the day.

“That decision should be made by an independent body. It has also made employing people harder because they are not sure if they will keep their job if there’s a change of government.”

David Van, who was removed from the Liberal party room last year following allegations of inappropriate behaviour, said he had to wait a year for Albanese to approve his request for two extra staff members after moving to the crossbench in June 2023.

“I wish I understood why the process took so long,” Van said, backing calls for staffing levels to be decided by an independent body.

Babet disagreed, saying: “No, we don’t need any more bureaucracy, we just need the prime minister to be fair.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.