Independents forced to fundraise to hire extra staff

Five of the seven lower house teal independent MPs, and regional crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie, say they have fund­raised to employ extra staff in their offices.

Monique Ryan went toe to toe with Peter Dutton during question time in the House of Representatives in Canberra on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Five of the seven lower house teal independent MPs, and regional crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie, say they have fund­raised to employ extra staff in their offices.

The confirmation comes as activist Sally Rugg’s case against Koo­yong independent Monique Ryan and the commonwealth returns to the Federal Court in Melbourne on Tuesday, amid claims in affidavits from both women that reduced staffing levels for crossbenchers contributed to what is now an ­expensive taxpayer-funded legal battle.

Ms Rugg – who remains on the payroll as Dr Ryan’s chief of staff despite not having worked since December – is seeking to be allowed to return to work, despite evidence from Dr Ryan that their relationship is “irreparable”, with judge Debra Mortimer due to deliver her verdict on that aspect of the case on Tuesday.

She is also expected to set a date later this year for what is anticipated to be a lengthy trial of Ms Rugg’s broader case against the commonwealth over claims of ­“serious contraventions” of the Fair Work Act in the form of allegedly being required to work unreasonable hours.

Affidavits from both women made public late last week indicate Dr Ryan considered employing extra staff who would have been paid for by her fundraising body Kooyong Independents, following Anthony Albanese’s decision last year to reduce crossbenchers’ staffing entitlements from four personal staff members to one while maintaining the entitlement to four electorate officers.

The Australian has confirmed four other teal independents and Ms Sharkie have also hired extra staff who are paid by their fundraising vehicles.

Fellow Melburnian Zoe Daniel said she was using independently raised funds to employ staff in her office “under arrangements approved by the Department of Fin­ance”, as did North Sydney MP Kylea Tink, who said the government’s decision to hire more than a dozen new parliamentary library staff had provided valuable expertise, but the crossbench was “under-resourced” from a staffing perspective. “We have never accepted the proposition from the government that increased library resourcing is a substitute for staffing levels. Library researchers offer different functions and skills to an electorate officer,” she said.

Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps said she had also been forced to fundraise to build her team.

A spokesman for Allegra Spender said she had been “talking to donors about raising money for staff to provide research and policy support”.

“Some Wentworth donors have generously offered to help, but there are complex rules around parliamentary and electorate staffing, so it is taking longer than expected,” the spokesman said.

Warringah MP Zali Steggall said she had crowd-funded to pay for more staff, and Ms Sharkie said she had gone from four personal staff to two, despite her seat having increased from just over 100,000 voters when she was elected to 132,000 now, forcing her to supplement wages with funds from her Centre Alliance Party. Kate Chaney and rural independent Helen Haines all said they had not fundraised to pay staff.