Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of attempting to exert political influence over a One Nation Member of Parliament by offering an additional staff member. The offer, which included a salary package of approximately $200,000, was extended to One Nation MP David Farley via a letter from the Prime Minister on Monday, but was declined by Farley.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson stated on Thursday that Albanese was "seeking to use taxpayer funds to exert undue political influence over politicians." The Prime Minister has the authority to determine the number of staff members each MP can hire beyond the standard five electorate officers. Hanson has previously requested that her party be granted minor party status, which would allow for five additional staff members.
The offer to Farley was reportedly made independently of One Nation's request for upgraded status.
Hanson also noted that senior ministers had raised grant funding under the Sustainable Communities Program for the Murray Darling Basin, an area that falls within Farley's electorate of Farrer. She asserted that Farley did not initiate discussions regarding this program.
Hanson accused Albanese and the Labor Party of attempting to influence her MP, stating, "We have decided to expose these grubby dealings because the public deserves to know what the Albanese Labor government is doing behind closed doors." She added that for months, One Nation has advocated for fair and transparent allocation of staffing for parliamentarians, a call that has reportedly gone unanswered by the Prime Minister.
Hanson claims to have personally written to Albanese twice to request One Nation be placed on equal footing with the Greens in terms of staffing resources. The upgrade to minor party status would increase One Nation's staff from four to nine, enabling the party to hire more experienced personnel. Hanson maintains her party has received no formal response to these requests.
"The Prime Minister should not personally control the resources available to his political opponents," Hanson stated. "While this power has always been open to abuse, it has, in our view, been weaponised to an unprecedented extent under this Labor Government and this Prime Minister. This is the type of politics that Australians are sick of. The Prime Minister is trying to drag One Nation down to his level of grubby politics. One Nation will have no part of it."
Farley, elected in May, is currently the only crossbench MP without additional staff.
Albanese's staff allocation powers came under scrutiny earlier this month when he approved 15 staffers for the Greens, just days before the Greens voted with Labor to reject an inquiry into his staff allocation authority. Hanson characterized these staffing issues as an example of "grey corruption."
Dr. Catherine Williams, executive director of the Centre for Public Integrity, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the Labor Government needs to "urgently explain the rational that has been used to determine current staffing allocations." She further stated, "The system which sees the prime minister able to determine staffing allocations is deeply and inherently problematic, untenable, and must be overhauled."