Frank wrote on Jun 4^th, 2022 at 9:56pm:


You don't get it.  It's ok.

Oh dear!

Albo has set himself up for a hostile Senate. 

‘Slap in the face’: independents furious at PM’s decision to cut advisory staff from four to one

Anthony Albanese’s move to reduce crossbench staffers to pre-Coalition levels met with outrage

Furious independent MPs and senators have accused the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, of an “attack on democracy” after he decided to slash their staff allocation in one of his first dealings with the newly expanded crossbench.

One Nation has threatened to reject all government legislation as their “default position”, while crucial Senate vote David Pocock called the decision “extremely damaging” to the relationship with the crossbench. The Greens also claimed they have been given an effective staff cut, allocated the same number of staff as the last parliament despite their representatives growing from 10 to 16.

“It is beyond disappointing that Anthony Albanese would try to hobble us like this so that we will not have the capacity to do the job we were elected to do,” independent MP Sophie Scamps tweeted.

In a letter sent to House of Representatives and Senate crossbenchers on Friday, Albanese – who as prime minister gets to set staff allocations across parliament – said he proposed to offer just “one additional full-time staff member at the adviser classification, in addition to your four electorate staff”.

Under the previous Coalition government, crossbenchers got up to four advisers, in addition to electorate staff. Advisers are generally tasked with managing legislation, speeches, media, research and parliamentary issues, while electorate officers deal with local constituent issues.

The letter says the government will “increase resourcing” to the parliamentary library, saying it can assist parliamentarians with advice and research.

The crossbench staff allocation had increased under the previous Coalition government. Albanese’s decision takes staffing back to what it was before the Coalition agreed to expand the allocation after negotiations with the crossbench.

The decision blindsided many on the crossbench, who had been optimistic of further expanding their staff numbers. The day after his election, Albanese committed to “have a good relationship with people across the crossbench” on top of Labor pledges to “fix” parliament.

Multiple new independent MPs and senators were elected to parliament in May, including Pocock, Monique Ryan, Allegra Spender, Kylea Tink, Kate Chaney, and Tammy Tyrrell of the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN).

Several crossbench MPs declined to comment on Friday evening, but the independent offices were locked in discussions for much of the afternoon after Albanese’s letter.

Sources said many were “appalled” and “outraged” at the decision. Others claimed it would foster “ill will”, and accused Albanese of a “political play” after a growing vote for independents and Greens at the election.

The Greens also complained about their staff allocation. A spokesman said the party would only be allocated the same number of staff as the last parliament, meaning the same staffers spread over more offices.

“It is unbelievable and so short sighted that the government would cut crossbench staff when the public has just delivered the biggest crossbench representation ever,” the Greens said.

A Labor spokesperson said staff allocation was “reviewed and re-allocated following every election”.

A One Nation spokesperson said the party was working with other crossbenchers to retain the previous number of staff, saying it would be much harder to properly scrutinise legislation with a reduced office.

The spokesperson suggested that if crossbenchers didn’t have time to consider bills properly, then “the default position that should be taken by every independent and minor party should be to reject government legislation”.

Labor has a majority in the House of Representatives, but will need the support of the Greens and at least one more crossbencher, or the Coalition, to pass legislation in the Senate.

The entire Senate crossbench – Lambie, Tyrrell, David Pocock, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts – issued a joint statement calling the decision a “a direct attack on democracy” that “will serve to only decrease scrutiny on legislation”.

“In the last parliamentary term, crossbench senators were required to scrutinise over 550 pieces of legislation. The Jenkins Review was clear that parliamentary offices are under-resourced and staff struggle to keep up with the significant workload,” the statement said.

Pocock, who has been seen as a crucial and potentially reliable vote for Labor on progressive legislation like climate reforms, slammed the decision, saying it “removes transparency” and “hinders the democratic process”. He also hinted at not voting for government legislation without proper resources to scrutinise it.

“This decision by the prime minister is extremely disappointing and damaging to the relationship with the crossbench,” he told Guardian Australia.

“Consulting with my fellow crossbenchers we have shared concerns about voting on legislation we don’t have the resources to adequately scrutinise or ensure the integrity of … This decision is bad for democracy and terrible for transparency. Parliament should represent all Australians.”

Lambie’s office said she received the letter just an hour before her father’s funeral on Friday afternoon, and

Albo and the superior team are absolutely dominating

Inflation to hit 7.75%
Aged care facilities can exempt themselves from having to have a Registered Nurse on site 24/7
Real wages going backwards.
Interest rates rising.
No increase to JobSeeker.
Retained "mutual obligation" tests for JobSeeker.
Retained off-shore processing of refugees.
Allowing new Coal mines.
Recession likely.

When the history books are written, the comparison between the economic indicators under the LNP vs Labor will show a very sorry state of affairs under Labor.

Albo kept saying that Labor had a plan.

You don't hear about that plan any more.

albo has a chance to course correct.

what the 2 years of covid taught us is that all levles of government and all government measures and a trillion dollars of spending, in the end, was impotent at affecting the trajectory of our lives.

people SHOULD now see that they have to be self reliant

that government cant do all that much anymore.

albo needs to be honest and say health , looking after the elderly, housing, energy prices are not something government can fix.

if government says they have the solution to these problems they are lying.

take climate change

we couldnt get a sensible policy on covid and that was a threat that was certain to come and come with in weeks.

climate change is a much more slow and subtle threat, it will take decades and the cost to pretend to tackle it will be much greater.

hence , we need to admit , this is NOT something government can fix.

this is a personal responsibility issue.

most things are

the perpetual infants need to grow up and stop trying to breast feed off albos bosom