Labor has denied trying to lure One Nation MP David Farley into defecting after offering the rookie parliamentarian an additional staff member, a move Pauline Hanson has condemned as an attempt to exert political influence.
The offer was hand-delivered to Mr Farley’s Parliament House office on Monday. Ms Hanson rejected it, claiming neither Mr Farley nor One Nation had requested the extra personnel.
“These actions have left David and One Nation deeply concerned that the government is seeking to use taxpayer funds to exert undue political influence over politicians,” Senator Hanson said in a statement.
The dispute comes as One Nation gains support in the polls and takes votes from the Coalition opposition. Mr Farley has not ruled out joining Labor and attempted to become a Labor candidate in 2021. He was also previously a member of the Nationals.
Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth dismissed the suggestion that the government was attempting to recruit him.
“Pauline is jumping at shadows,” she told Seven’s Sunrise on Friday. “If she’s already having trouble keeping her party together, that says something about her.”
Ms Hanson has repeatedly asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for more staff, including joining her political rival Fatima Payman in September to call for changes to the way personnel are allocated to parliamentarians.
Senator Payman, who left Labor for the crossbench in 2024, told a Senate estimates hearing on Monday that Mr Albanese had deliberately delayed her application for additional staff in order to make an example of her. She said she had applied almost two years earlier and received no formal response, while newer MPs had been accommodated.
The Prime Minister has also faced accusations that offers of additional personnel were being used in quid pro quo arrangements with other parties. Earlier in October, he guaranteed 15 extra staff among Greens MPs, days before they voted against an inquiry into whether he should retain responsibility for allocating advisers.
Pat Conroy, another Labor frontbencher, said there was a practical reason for offering Mr Farley additional support.
“This is an allocation that has been offered to most MPs with large electorates – it’s not unusual,” he told Nine’s Today. “This is One Nation yet again just trying to politicise an issue that shouldn’t be about politics … this is a storm in the teacup, and One Nation is just desperate to distract.”
Mr Farley represents Farrer in southern New South Wales, the state’s second-largest electorate, which he won from the Liberals at a May by-election. It is slightly smaller than Greece.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce accepted an additional staff member after defecting from the Nationals in December. Mr Farley is the only crossbench member without extra personnel.
