Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of trying to win the favour of a One Nation MP by offering him an extra staff member.
asserted
Albanese → accuse → member
One Nation MP David Farley declined Albanese's offer for an extra $200,000 salary package to hire another worker after he received a letter from the PM on Monday.
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he → decline → Monday
In a statement on Thursday, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson raised concern Albanese was 'seeking to use taxpayer funds to exert undue political influence over politicians'.
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Albanese → raise → politicians
The prime minister is given the power to decide how many staff members each MP is allowed to hire in addition to the standard five electorate officers.
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MP → give → officers
Hanson has repeatedly requested her party be upgraded to minor party status so she can hire five more workers.
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she → request → workers
The offer for Farley to employ an additional worker was not requested and was made outside of the response to One Nation's request.
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Farley → employ → request
Hanson also noted 'senior ministers raised grant funding under the Sustainable Communities Program for the Murray Darling Basin.'
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ministers → note → Basin
The Murray Darling Basin falls under Farley's electorate, Farrer.
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Basin → fall → electorate
'David did not initiate the discussion regarding this program,' Hanson said.
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Hanson → initiate → program
One Nation MP David Farley (above) declined Anthony Albanese's offer for an additional staff member this week
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson (above) accused Albanese of 'seeking to use taxpayer funds to exert undue political influence over politicians'
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Hanson → decline → politicians
The One Nation leader accused Albanese and the wider Labor Party of attempting to 'influence' her MP.
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leader → accuse → MP
'We have decided to expose these grubby dealings because the public deserves to know what the Albanese Labor government is doing behind closed doors,' Hanson said.
'
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Hanson → decide → doors
For months, One Nation has been fighting for fair, transparent and objective allocation of staffing for parliamentarians.
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Nation → fight → parliamentarians
The Prime Minister has refused to respond to these calls.'
It's understood Hanson has personally written to Albanese twice to request her party be put on equal footing with the Greens.
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party → refuse → Greens
The upgrade to minor party status would increase One Nation's staff from four to nine and increase salaries to allow the party to hire more experienced workers.
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party → increase → workers
Hanson claims her party has received no formal response to the requests.
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party → claim → requests
'The Prime Minister should not personally control the resources available to his political opponents,' she said on Thursday.
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she → control → Thursday
Albanese (centre) has faced allegations of 'abusing' his power to personally allocate staff
'
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Albanese → face → staff
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.
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it → weaponise → Government
The Prime Minister is trying to drag One Nation down to his level of grubby politics.
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Minister → try → politics
One Nation will have no part of it.
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Nation → have → it
Farley, who won the Farrer by-election in May, was the first One Nation MP to win a House of Representatives seat at an election.
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who → win → election
Albanese's staff allocation power came under intense scrutiny earlier this month when he signed off a letter guaranteeing 15 staffers for the Greens.
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he → come → Greens
The move came just three days before the Greens sided with Labor to reject an inquiry into the prime minister's staff allocation power.
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Greens → come → power
Hanson claimed the staffing issues were an example of 'grey corruption'.
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issues → claim → corruption
Hanson said One Nation members would deny individual staff offers until the party's request to be upgraded to 'minor party' status was considered
'
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request → say → status
This government's actions are the type of broken politics that undermines the confidence Australians have in our democracy,' she said.
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she → undermine → democracy
'It's what Professor Anne Twomey has described as grey corruption.
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Twomey → describe → corruption
'One Nation will always stand up for the interests of all Australians.
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Nation → stand → Australians
We won't be bought or divided by this Prime Minister.'
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We → buy → Minister
Dr Catherine Williams, executive director of the Centre for Public Integrity, told the Sydney Morning Herald the Labor Government needed to 'urgently explain the rational that has been used to determine current staffing allocations'.
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that → tell → allocations
'The system which sees the prime minister able to determine staffing allocations is deeply and inherently problematic, untenable, and must be overhauled,' Dr Williams said.
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Williams → see → allocations
The Aporia
