Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

This is the arrangement that has existed for some time. It is my understanding that staffing levels in this building, and how many advisers people are entitled to have, is at the discretion of the Prime Minister. I think, from the discussions that I've had with him, that he felt that additional staff over and above EO staff should be provided to members of the crossbench where they had additional responsibilities, and that's what he's done. Everyone gets four electorate office staff, and I think in the Senate people have been provided with two additional staff on top of that. That means crossbenchers have six personal staff available to them. We also use electorate office staff, as members in this place do all the time. In fact, I'm using EO staff in my office when required to support parliamentary responsibilities. (Time expired)