Anthony Albanese’s move to reduce crossbench staffers to pre-Coalition levels met with outrage
government, crossbenchers got up to four advisers, in addition to electorate staff. Advisers are generally tasked with managing legislation, speeches, media, research and parliamentary issues, while electorate officers deal with local constituent issues.
The decision blindsided many on the crossbench, who had been optimistic of further expanding their staff numbers. The day after his election, Albanese committed to “have a good relationship with people across the crossbench” on top of Labor pledges to “fix” parliament. The Greens also complained about their staff allocation. A spokesman said the party would only be allocated the same number of staff as the last parliament, meaning the same staffers spread over more offices.
The entire Senate crossbench – Lambie, Tyrrell, David Pocock, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts – issued a joint statement calling the decision a “a direct attack on democracy” that “will serve to only decrease scrutiny on legislation”. “This decision by the prime minister is extremely disappointing and damaging to the relationship with the crossbench,” he told Guardian Australia.
“To hear on the day of Jacqui’s father’s funeral that three staff members, some of whom are there with Jacqui helping her at the funeral, will be fired because the prime minister doesn’t like competition, is an absolute slap in the face,” a Jacqui Lambie Network spokesperson said.The JLN said expanding the parliamentary library would not offset the loss of personal staff.
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