Members of Parliament (Staff) Amendment (Safe Staffing Guarantee) Bill 2026
Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of One Nation) (15:44): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. Leave granted.
Senator HANSON: I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows — Every senator and member of Parliament needs staff to help them do their job.
We ask a great deal of those staff, and we have a responsibility to make sure they have the support they need. This should be something we can agree on, whatever our politics. Our staff read legislation, prepare briefings, speak with community groups, and help us develop amendments.
They help us get answers from government departments and bring the concerns of the people we represent before this Parliament. The demands on our offices are growing. Staff are dealing with complex legislation, competing deadlines, and people who need our help.
We cannot keep asking them to take on more work without considering whether we have enough people to do it. Long hours and personal commitment will only take an office so far. We need staffing arrangements that allow people to do their work properly, without unreasonable pressure becoming the norm.
Recent disputes over staffing allocations have shown why we need greater certainty. Rather than revisit every disagreement, this Parliament should enact a bipartisan and fair minimum arrangements for the future. Those who hold senior office have responsibilities under the legislative framework and to this Parliament.
That includes ensuring that those outside government have fair resources and support to carry out their duties. This Bill puts minimum personal staffing allocations into law. It provides independent parliamentarians with at least four personal staff positions to help them examine legislation, prepare amendments, and carry out their parliamentary duties.
An independent must deal with matters across the full range of government portfolios without the broader support available within a larger political party. Their staffing should recognise that responsibility. For minor parties, the Bill provides additional staffing support to meet the responsibilities they carry in this Parliament.
They can hold the balance of power and must examine proposals across government, develop policy, and negotiate amendments. As political circumstances change, they may also be called upon to support or form part of a government or opposition. They need the people and expertise to meet those responsibilities.
For the Opposition, the Bill provides a minimum level of staffing linked to the size of Government personal staffing. A shadow cabinet must examine each minister's decisions, respond to legislation, and develop an alternative programme for government. It needs sufficient support not only to question the government of the day, but to prepare to take its place.
This Bill deals with personal staffing allocations for our work in Parliament, separate from the electorate staff who assist our communities. Personal staff help us research policy, examine legislation, prepare amendments, and support the work of office-holders, shadow ministers, independents, and whips. They also help us explain our decisions and respond to a 24-hour media cycle.
Ministers, shadow ministers, independent members, whips, and other office-holders rely on personal staff to research policy, examine legislation, prepare amendments, and advise on parliamentary procedure. These staff also help us explain our decisions and respond to a 24-hour media cycle. Their work is essential to the functioning of Parliament.
We are responsible for the decisions we make, but we need sound advice and thorough preparation to make them. This Bill ensures that those outside government have a fair minimum of that support. That work is essential to the effective operation of our democracy.
This Bill has been brought forward because these arrangements in a democracy should not depend on which party forms government or who sits on the crossbench. They should provide certainty through changes of government and changes in parliamentary representation. The Prime Minister can provide more staff above the minimums, and party leaders remain responsible for distributing their collective allocations.
Supporting this Bill does not mean supporting another senator's policies. It means recognising that we have all been elected to do a job, and that our staff need reasonable workloads and the resources to help us do it. I ask senators across this chamber to work together on that basis.
I commend the Bill to the Senate. Senator HANSON: I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.