Politics · Australia · 18 hrs ago
One Nation accuses Albanese of political influence over staff offer
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered One Nation MP David Farley an extra staff member for his work in parliament.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson called the offer unsolicited and said Farley had not asked for it.
Hanson accused Albanese of using taxpayer-funded resources to exert political influence, while Farley said he had rejected the offer.
Farley represents Farrer, a New South Wales electorate, and recently joined One Nation.
The offer could cost taxpayers as much as $200,000 in salary, according to Hanson.
The dispute comes amid wider calls from One Nation and independent senator Fatima Payman for fairer, more consistent staffing allocations for MPs.
Albanese controls staffing allocations for independent and opposition parties, and he was asked about the issue but did not answer questions about whether that arrangement was appropriate.
One Nation rejected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s offer of an extra staff member for its MP David Farley.
Party leader Pauline Hanson called the offer unsolicited and said it could cost taxpayers as much as $200,000 in additional salary.
Hanson said Farley had not requested the staff member and accused Albanese of seeking to exert undue political influence.
Farley said he had decided to join One Nation and had a clear mandate.
Albanese did not answer questions about whether the prime minister should control staffing allocations for MPs.
- Who
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered the extra staff member to One Nation MP David Farley. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson rejected the offer on his behalf.
- What
- One Nation rejected an offer for Farley to hire an additional staff member, which the party described as unsolicited.
- When
- The offer letter was hand-delivered on Monday. The reports were published on October 29, 2026.
- Where
- Farley represents the New South Wales electorate of Farrer. The letter was delivered to his Parliament House office in Canberra.
- Why
- Hanson said Farley had not requested the staff member and accused Albanese of seeking to exert undue political influence.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Albanese and Farley met privately in meetings initiated by the prime minister.
A member of Albanese’s team hand-delivered a letter authorising Farley to hire another staff member.
Farley said he had decided to join One Nation, and Albanese was asked about staffing allocations.
- Offer
- One additional staff member for David Farley
- Potential salary cost
- Up to $200,000
- Electorate
- Farrer, New South Wales
- Letter delivery location
- Farley’s Parliament House office, Canberra
- Publication date
- October 29, 2026
4 sources
One Nation accuses PM of trying to ‘exert undue political influence’ by offering David Farley an extra staffer
One Nation MP rejects $200,000 staffer as Hanson accuses PM of meddling
Payman and Hanson are right. Albanese should forget the king rat
What people are saying
David did not request this allocation of staff. No reason was provided by the prime minister for the provision of this staff.
We have decided to expose these grubby dealings because the public deserves to know what the Albanese Labor government is doing behind closed doors
I know that I’ve still got that courage and tenacity in behind me. I have got a very, very clear and defined mandate.
Fatima Payman has the same numbers of staff now as she had when she was elected as a Labor senator, indeed one more because we granted an additional staffer to all senators and all members of the House of Representatives