Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to give independent senator Fatima Payman an additional staffer over her decision to quit the Labor Party.

Sources inside the Albanese government said the decision not to approve the WA Senator’s staff request was connected to her defection from Labor in 2024.

Ms Payman left the Labor Party in dramatic fashion after crossing the floor of the senate over a vote on a motion supporting the recognition of Palestine.

The senator later handed out how-to-vote material against Mr Albanese at pre-poll during the 2025 federal election in his own electorate of Grayndler.

News24.com.au understands the PM’s staffing refusal serves as a warning to other parliamentarians about the potential consequences of leaving the party.

It comes as Ms Payman continues to publicly challenge the Prime Minister over a staffing request that has gone unanswered for almost two years.

In response to the latest development, Ms Payman told News24.com.au that the Prime Minister was being “petty”.

“(It’s) not very Prime Ministerial to continue this behaviour two years later and not very pro-worker to allow my staff to pay the price of his whims,” she said. 

“It’s time he did the right thing and give me my additional staff and hand back the staffing powers to an independent umpire.”

Labor’s Environment Minister Murray Watt denied to News24.com.au that Ms Payman was being refused a staffer because she had defected from Labor. 

“That’s not the case. Fatima Payman has received an extra staff member since she was elected as a Labor Party representative,” he told News24.com.au on Sunday.

News24.com.au understands every parliamentarian went from four to five electorate officers at that time, and Ms Payman was still with Labor when it happened.

“It’s always been the case that the Prime Minister of the day has managed staffing on advice. I don’t think that there’s a need to change that system,” Mr Watt said. 

Special Minister of State Don Farrell has previously said that Mr Albanese has not provided a reason for why Ms Payman cannot have more staff.

Coalition MP Kevin Hogan told News24.com.au that the Prime Minister was using staffing as a political weapon.

“We’ve seen with Senator Payman, you know, she believes she hasn’t got staff because she left the Labor Party,” Mr Hogan said. 

“He’s using anything and everything as leverage and weaponisation.”

Ms Payman confronted Special Minister of State Don Farrell during Senate Estimates on Monday, demanding to know why her application had not been processed.

Mr Farrell confirmed he had raised the matter with the Prime Minister several times but had received no response explaining the delay.

“No, no, he hasn’t given me reasons,” Mr Farrell said when asked whether the Prime Minister had explained why the request remained unresolved.

Ms Payman pointed to Teal MP Nicolette Boele, former Greens leader Larissa Waters and Greens leader David Shoebridge, whose requests were processed before hers.

“So why are some applications being processed in just two weeks and others still waiting acknowledgement after two years?” she asked.

Mr Farrell said the Prime Minister was the only person who could explain the differing treatment.

“I’m sure the Prime Minister, as he always does, gives it due consideration and at this point he has not made a decision to allocate additional staff to yourself,” he said.

Ms Payman suggested she was being made an example of because she had defected from Labor.

Her staffing dispute took a dramatic turn when she invoked the recent attack on independent MP Dr Helen Haines.

She asked whether the Prime Minister was waiting for something similar to happen to her office before taking her concerns seriously.

“Is the Prime Minister waiting for something like what happened to Dr Helen Haines to occur to my office, to me, for him to take our requests seriously?” she said.

Mr Farrell described Ms Payman’s suggestion about Ms Haines as “outrageous” and demanded she withdraw it, which she declined to do.

She subsequently apologised to Dr Haines for her “clumsy wording”, confirming she had contacted the injured MP and her staff directly.

“I have apologised for my clumsy wording on Monday night and I have conveyed those apologies directly to Dr Haines and her staff,” she said.

The dispute has also raised questions about the Prime Minister’s apparently differing approach to staffing requests from other crossbenchers.

Earlier this week, Mr Albanese offered One Nation MP David Farley an additional staff member with a salary package worth up to $200,000.

Mr Farley rejected the unsolicited offer, with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson accusing the PM of attempting to use taxpayer resources for political influence.