Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mackellar for her question. When I became Prime Minister, I was somewhat surprised to hear that, under the Morrison government, members of the crossbench had double the number of staff of members of the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. They had double. With respect, I'm not sure what those arrangements were, but they were double. Not only did the Morrison government not report that or come to the dispatch box; they were pretty quiet up in that corner about it too. They were pretty quiet about it up in that corner.

I thought it was a bit unreasonable that people who were side-by-side in electorates such as Bennelong, which is next to the three seats that are now occupied by Independents, should have half the staff and that the people of Bennelong should get the capacity for half the representation of people who were Independents. I just thought that failed the commonsense test. That was my view. I noticed that it was the view also of members of the then Morrison government who were also not told.

See this speech in context