Independent anger as Labor adds 50 high-paid staffer positions
Crossbenchers want the decision on how many staffers they can hire to be taken out of the prime minister's hands.
The Albanese government has added more than 50 high-paid senior staffing positions since mid-last year, while independents complain their own threadbare staff are being overworked.
Soon after taking office, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese angered the expanded crossbench by announcing their adviser allocation would be cut from four to one. Albanese, who has sole discretion over the number of advisors each MP receives, eventually compromised to allow two.
Independents are now pushing for that authority to be taken out of his hands, with Senator Fatima Payman alleging she is being denied her full staffing allocation as retribution for publicly defecting from Labor.
The Senate crossbench will play a decisive role in a flurry of bills Labor wants to ram through before the end of the year, though most have just two policy staffers to navigate complex legislation.
