Just two days before he leaves the country for the NATO Summit in Madrid, Mr Albanese sent a letter to independent and minor party MPs and senators advising them of his decision. The letter reading:
“In recognition of your role as an independent (i.e, not a member of the Government, Opposition or the Australian Greens), I propose to allocate you one additional full-time staff member at the Adviser classification."
Prime Minister has created with crossbenchers furious with his move to cut the number of advisers they can employ. The member for Warringah Zali Steggall leading the charge.
"He has chosen to create division by basically gagging the crossbench because the very real impact is hard-working staff who have contributed in the last parliament to all the policies and solutions that the crossbench has been able to put forward, from truth political advertising, to climate, to anti-corruption. Three out of four of these across our offices will lose their jobs."
One Nation's already threatened to block legislation in the senate, and in an unlikely show of unity, five crossbench senators released a joint statement condemning the decision, saying:
"The move represents a direct attack on democracy and will serve to only decrease scrutiny on legislation the government will be looking to pass.'
