It may not seem obvious, but a minor item in this week’s news says a lot about where Australia is headed for the next three years. One of Anthony Albanese’s first acts as prime minister (besides jetting off overseas) was cutting parliamentary staffing levels to a quarter of what they were.
The incoming Teal crossbenchers immediately squealed blue murder, because that meant they’d have just five staffers (horror! They might have to even make their own coffee!).
Albo immediately folded like a cheap suit.
Some crossbench members are set to be allocated an extra staff member amid growing calls for more help after parliamentary staffers were cut last month.
The importance of this story is not just the entitlement mentality of the Teals — almost none of whom have ever sat a day in Parliament, yet, but demand all the perks of office — but the weakness of the Albanese government.
Albanese squeaked into government on the weakest primary vote in a century, damn near in history. His majority is misleading: many seats were won or held by incredibly slim majorities (1% or less). The lower house majority doesn’t count for much when the Labor government is completely dependent on the Greens and cross-benchers to get its legislative agenda passed by the Senate.
Even the single Teal in the Senate could make or break a bill. Given that the Teals, despite their claim to be “independent”, march in lockstep with their Climate Cult sugar daddies, Albanese absolutely depends on the Teals’ goodwill.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese informed members in an email in June they will only have one staffer in addition to the four in their electorate offices […]
There was immediate backlash over the move, with independents and minor party MPs warning it would “slow down the government’s legislative agenda”.
But Mr Albanese told Sky News Australia some crossbenchers have received an additional staff member “on a personal level” after discussions this week.
Sky News
What a pathetic little worm.
Sky News host Cory Bernardi says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has “crumbled” before parliament has even begun as teal independents demand more staff.
Sky News
If this how easily Albanese folds to a bunch of over-privileged tossers from the mansions of North Sydney and Toorak, imagine what kind of easy meat he’s going to be for China’s “wolf warriors”.
No wonder his nickname before government was “Each-Way Albo”. In government, he’s already earning the sobriquet, “Acrobat Albo”.
Australia is in for three years of weak, spineless leadership — assuming he lasts that long before Labor fall back on their habit of knifing leaders.