The Prime Minister Had Weaponised Parliamentary Staff Against One Nation

This Is Not Fair Representation. It Is Political Sabotage.

Anthony Albanese is apparently so frightened of One Nation’s growing support that he is using the power of the Prime Minister’s office to restrict the party’s ability to represent Australians.

One Nation now has six federal parliamentarians, yet the party has been allocated only four personal advisers between them.

The Greens have 11 parliamentarians and 17 personal advisers.

The Staffing Disparity

• One Nation: 0.67 advisers per parliamentarian
• The Greens: 1.55 advisers per parliamentarian

On a per-parliamentarian basis, One Nation receives only 43 per cent of the staffing support provided to the Greens.

That is not an insignificant discrepancy.

It is a political handicap imposed by the Prime Minister upon one of his most rapidly growing political opponents.

Albanese Personally Controls The Numbers

Under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, personal adviser positions are allocated by the Prime Minister.

Read That Again.

The Prime Minister personally controls the staffing resources available to the politicians whose job is to scrutinise, challenge and potentially remove his government.

It is an extraordinary concentration of political power.

Australia already recognises that politicians should not be permitted to:

• Determine their own salaries
• Arbitrarily manipulate their opponents’ salaries
• Reward preferred political parties
• Financially punish political opponents

Parliamentary remuneration is handled through the independent Remuneration Tribunal, which applies established rules regardless of party allegiance.

The same basic principle should apply to parliamentary staffing.

Staff allocations should be determined through a transparent and independently administered formula based on:

• The number of elected parliamentarians
• Official party status
• Parliamentary responsibilities
• Legislative workload
• Constituent demand
• Representation across both houses of Parliament

They should not depend upon whether the Prime Minister:

• Likes the party
• Fears its electoral growth
• Disagrees with its policies
• Considers it politically useful
• Wants to restrict its ability to challenge the government

The Government Has An Army. One Nation Is Given A Skeleton Crew.

The Albanese Government has access to an enormous political and administrative machine.

According to One Nation, the government commands:

• 507 political advisers
• Approximately 200,000 Commonwealth public servants

One Nation has:

• Six federal parliamentarians
• Four personal advisers

Four advisers shared across an entire federal political party.

Those four people are expected to help:

• Examine government legislation
• Prepare amendments
• Develop national policy
• Research complex legal and economic issues
• Respond to constituents
• Handle media inquiries
• Prepare parliamentary speeches
• Attend committee proceedings
• Coordinate offices across Australia
• Scrutinise billions of dollars in government expenditure

This is not merely an inconvenience for One Nation.

It affects the capacity of elected parliamentarians to perform the work Australians elected them to do.

When the government restricts the resources of an opposition party, it is not simply punishing politicians.

It is weakening the parliamentary representation of the Australians who voted for them.

Nine Advisers Is A Modest Request

One Nation is requesting nine personal adviser positions, equivalent to 1.5 advisers for each of its six parliamentarians.

Even then, its staffing ratio would remain slightly below the Greens’ allocation of approximately 1.55 advisers per parliamentarian.

What One Nation Is Asking For

• Nine advisers in total
• 1.5 advisers per parliamentarian
• A ratio still below the Greens
• A fair allocation based on parliamentary representation

This is hardly an extravagant demand.

One Nation is not asking to be given more generous treatment than the Greens. It is asking for roughly equivalent treatment based upon parliamentary representation.

Yet Albanese has reportedly failed to respond adequately to repeated written requests, including formal correspondence sent by Pauline Hanson.

Silence Is Not An Explanation.

If there is a legitimate, neutral and consistently applied reason for the enormous disparity, the Prime Minister should publish it.

He should disclose:

• The formula used to calculate allocations
• The criteria applied to each political party
• The parliamentary workload considered
• The reasons One Nation receives proportionately fewer advisers
• Whether political considerations influenced the decision

If no objective formula exists, Australians are entitled to conclude that these allocations are being made through:

Political discretion, behind closed doors, by the person who benefits most from weakening his opponents.

This Is The Conduct Of An Emperor, Not An Impartial Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is supposed to govern the country.

He is not supposed to use taxpayer-funded staffing decisions as a weapon against parties threatening Labor’s hold on power.

Albanese cannot:

• Preach democracy while deliberately tilting Parliament’s internal playing field
• Claim to respect voters while restricting the resources available to their elected representatives
• Defend generous staffing for one minor party while starving another minor party of comparable support

This looks less like responsible administration and more like an incumbent government protecting itself.

Albanese Should Consider The Precedent He Is Creating

Political power is temporary.

Anthony Albanese will not occupy the Prime Minister’s office forever.

Labor will not govern forever.

One day, another prime minister will inherit the same discretionary power.

Labor should therefore consider whether it wants future prime ministers deciding how many advisers Labor MPs are permitted to employ.

Any power that can be used against One Nation today can be used against Labor tomorrow.

That is precisely why parliamentary resources should be determined:

• Independently
• Transparently
• Consistently
• According to an equal formula

The question is not whether someone agrees with One Nation.

The Real Question

Should a sitting Prime Minister be able to personally restrict the staffing capacity of his political opponents?

One Nation is asking for nine advisers—an allocation that would still leave it fractionally below the Greens’ staffing ratio.

That Request Is Reasonable.

The Present Arrangement Is Not.

If Anthony Albanese is confident in his government, he should stop manipulating the playing field and allow One Nation to compete on equal terms.

Sources

• Australian Government Department Of Finance — Employment Instruments And Authorisations
• Parliamentary Library — Allocating Parliamentarians’ Staff
• The Nightly — Anthony Albanese Blanks Pauline Hanson’s Requests For More Staff
• Remuneration Tribunal — Federal Members Of Parliament Background
• Parliamentary Education Office — Parliamentary Staffing