James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

This parliament will be known as 'the mean parliament' because of the Prime Minister's mean and tricky actions to reduce the staffing allocation to non-government senators. Under the Labor Party, some staffers are more equal than others. Under Prime Minister Albanese, Labor staffers are more equal than coalition staffers. Indeed, under Labor, Labor members of parliament and senators are more equal than coalition members of parliament and senators.

Australians should expect that our parliament operates in a democratic and transparent fashion. It is an unfortunate and shameful reality, however, that Labor's prime minister is anything but transparent. Remember that this is the least transparent and accountable government since that of Paul Keating.

This Members of Parliament (Staff) Amendment (Providing Certainty and Improving Integrity) Bill 2025 only exists because of the Prime Minister's wilful and deliberate attempts to continue to avoid transparency and scrutiny, the supposed hallmarks of his government. You may recall that the Prime Minister promised to lead the most transparent and accountable government ever—another broken promise, because he leads the least government that Australia has known for decades. On two occasions now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has broken decades of convention and personally abused his discretionary powers by cutting staffing allocations from the opposition and the crossbench. By making these decisions, Mr Albanese has directly and deliberately reduced the Australian parliament's ability to hold him and his government accountable.

The prime minister of the day should not personally hold arbitrary powers allowing them to strip opposition staffing allocations. It flies in the face of democratic principles and serves only to shield the government from legitimate political and policy scrutiny. This bill makes simple changes to the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, commonly known as the MOP(S) Act, to create clear guidelines on staffing allocations for the opposition and crossbench. It sets up a fair, balanced and transparent system in the place of discretionary powers given over to the Prime Minister that are open to abuse. That is the current case under Mr Albanese.

Currently, there are no minimum staffing levels for non-government parliamentarians. The system is opaque, confusing, and, up until this point, relied on convention and the goodwill of a prime minister who had the stomach to weather legitimate scrutiny in parliament. But this prime minister, because of his mean and tricky actions, has shown that he has a glass jaw when it comes to legitimate questioning concerning the operations of this Labor government.

This bill fixes these issues and, in doing so, provides clarity and scrutiny for parliamentarians and staff for all sides of politics.

The Greens Senator, Senator Waters, said earlier in her contribution:

… we have a number of concerns with this bill, which were previously conveyed to the Liberals but have not been addressed in the final version they have introduced.

I can advise the Senate that the reason the coalition stopped working with the Greens on this bill is because the Greens—quel surprise, here—did a deal with Labor in the first fortnight of this parliament to vote down Senator Payman's inquiry, despite previously indicating support. Senator Waters also said that the bill provides a significant amount of resources for independents, bringing their staffing up to eight each. Well, that also is incorrect. The table within this bill sets the minimum at three for independents or at a number higher than that which can be determined by the Prime Minister. Perhaps, if the Greens hadn't sold out their principles and the values which they like to lecture us about, they might have read the bill properly, supported this bill and held this government to account.

We know from the government's own review into the MOP(S) Act that the current system is an issue. The review describes limited transparency about staffing decisions, perceptions of unfairness or political influence and real work health and safety concerns driven by sustained workload pressures. Prime Minister Albanese's decision to cut staffing allocations has only made things worse for staff already dealing with substantial workloads, and this goes to my point that some staff are more equal than other staff. Under this Labor Prime Minister, Labor staff are more equal than non-government staff. Indeed, it appears that the Prime Minister who proclaims to talk about standing up for the workers will only stand up for those workers who work for Labor parliamentarians and that those staff who do not work for Labor parliamentarians are second-class staffers.

On this issue, I'd also draw the chamber's attention to the independent review into resourcing of parliamentarian officers that was released earlier this month. I quote:

Offices where the parliamentarian had shadow portfolio responsibilities or other roles related to the Senate or House of Representatives and had not been allocated a personal staff member, struggled to meet the demands of the portfolio or parliamentary work in addition to electorate work.

It's there in black and white. Under-resourced officers struggle to meet the demands of their responsibilities. So who directly benefits from this? It's the government. This is why the government have made the decision. It is a clear political decision by the Labor Prime Minister and the Labor government to limit the ability of non-government parliamentarians to hold the executive to account.

The report also highlights the significant workloads being placed upon staff in general and the flow-on negative effects on wellbeing. Labor has talked a big game when it comes to improving workplace conditions in Parliament House, but they're not delivering. It's clear that Prime Minister Albanese does not care about the additional pressures he is putting on non-government staff. It is time the Prime Minister took his own advice and acted to create a healthier work environment for all staff and all parliamentarians in this parliament, which is a workplace. This bill simply guarantees opposition and crossbench parliamentarians a set number of staff. It does not restrict the Prime Minister from allocating more staff. It merely stops him from allocating less than a fair minimum.

When a Prime Minister cuts staffing from his political opponents, what is the true cost? The true cost is a fair and free democracy. The true cost is the ability of the parliament to hold the executive to account. A healthy democracy requires a strong parliament that is adequately resourced to review, scrutinise and, where possible, improve government legislation, which is what we saw in previous parliaments, where the opposition and the government, regardless of their colours, often came together to ensure that the legislation that passed through this place was the best that it could be. Australians deserve better than an opaque staffing system controlled by a mean and tricky Prime Minister.

If Labor vote against this bill, they will be supporting secrecy, not transparency, and they will be directly contributing to poorer workplace conditions for staff. The same can be said for the Greens; if the Greens vote against this bill, they are voting for a poorer workplace for staff in this building. Australians deserve better. The hardworking staff—all staff—in this building deserve better. This is not a question of partisan politics. It is a question of this government's commitment to democracy. It is a question of making sure that all staff are treated equally. It is a question of ensuring that all parliamentarians, regardless of their political colour, are treated equally. I commend the bill to the Senate.