A furious Senator Fatima Payman has labelled Anthony Albanese a ‘political bully’ who is acting like Donald Trump by denying her members of staff.
The Prime Minister has refused to give WA Senator Payman the normal crossbench allocation of personal staff after she crossed the floor and quit the Labor party last year.
The independent senator unleashed on Albanese in the Senate on Thursday morning, accusing him of ‘coercive control’, ‘political retribution’ and denying her the ability to hold the government to account.
‘I’ve faced down online trolls, Islamophobes, racists and neo-Nazis, but I will not be bullied in my workplace,’ Senator Payman fumed.
‘Acting Deputy President, if the Prime Minister were here in this chamber, I would ask him: is this leadership? Or is this a page torn from the Trump playbook?
‘Because what we’re witnessing is an abuse of executive power. Denying senators the means to scrutinize legislation isn’t just unfair, he’s in breach of the spirit of our Constitution, undermining the very purpose of the Senate as a house of review.
‘Does he understand how this looks, petty, authoritarian? A political bully trying to coerce and control.
‘I am a young Australian Muslim woman of color. I’ve been bullied out of Afghanistan. I will not be bullied by this man.’
The Prime Minister has refused to give WA Senator Fatima Payman the normal crossbench allocation of personal staff after she crossed the floor and quit the Labor party last year
The independent senator unleashed on Albanese in the Senate on Thursday morning, accusing him of ‘coercive control’, ‘political retribution’ and denying her the ability to hold the government to account.
The allocation of political staffers is in the gift of the Prime Minister and the current system is arbitrary.
For example, he did not award the Greens more staff when they won more seats three years ago and he cut staff to the Coalition when they lost seats.
Indeed, Albanese has achieved a rare feat in uniting usually implacably opposed politicians on this issue.
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson, who has been branded a ‘racist’ by Senator Payman in the past, even expressed sympathy for the WA Senator.
‘I have my differences with a couple of the other crossbench senators here. But the fact is that we’ve been treated unfairly and I believe that senator Payman is being treated unfairly too,’ Senator Hanson told the Senate.
‘She has not been given any personal staffing allocation at all. That clearly shows that he’s (Albanese) never got over the fact she’s walked away, turned her back on the Labor party with good reason.’
Linberal Senator James McGrath also criticised the PM by channeling the infamous line from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
‘This parliament will be known as the mean parliament because of the prime minister’s mean and tricky actions to reduce the staffing allocation to non-government senators,’ Senator McGrath said.
‘Because under the Labor party, some staffers are more equal than others. And under prime minster Anthony Albanese, labor staffers are more equal than Coalition staffers.’
The Senate is currently debating a bill, tabled by shadow minister for Foreign Affairs Michaelia Cash, to strip the PM of the power over staffing allocation and to hand it to an independent body.