The Coalition have accused Anthony Albanese of using parliamentary staffing allocations as a “political weapon”.
Opposition Senate leader Michaelia Cash introduced a bill on Thursday, accusing the Prime Minister of trying to avoid scrutiny and to “bully, intimidate and silence” their rival party.
“Mr Albanese has ripped up decades of convention… cutting Opposition and some crossbench capacity, and as a result, has deliberately weakened the Parliament’s ability to hold the left-wing socialist Albanese government to account,” she said.
Senator Cash said while it could be masked as a “great catch cry” that cutting Opposition staffing saves taxpayers money, she claimed it doesn’t, it only undermines democracy.
“This has got nothing to do with entitlements, nothing to do with entitlements at all. This is all about democracy, the undermining of democracy, by the Albanese Labour government,” she said.