Anthony Albanese faces scrutiny over Senator Tammy Tyrrell's staffing

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing criticism from crossbench MPs and transparency experts regarding staffing allocations for Senator Tammy Tyrrell. After Tyrrell left the Jacqui Lambie Network to join the Labor Party in May, she was permitted to retain two high-salaried adviser-level staff members.

These additional staff members, earning between $92,000 and $155,000, place Tyrrell on the same staffing level as 13 Labor colleagues who hold assistant minister or special envoy roles. This decision follows previous actions by Albanese to reduce staffing levels for the Coalition and the crossbench following the 2022 and 2025 elections.

Both the Prime Minister’s office and Tyrrell have declined to clarify the specific duties of these advisers or whether the staffing arrangement was part of her transition to the Labor Party. Critics are now calling for staffing decisions to be transferred from the Prime Minister to an independent authority to mitigate potential corruption risks.