Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not sure that I'm in a position to answer that. But I would just repeat the answer I gave to the first question. The allocation of personal staff, as far as I'm aware, has been at the discretion of the Prime Minister of the day. I know that members and independent senators have had discussions with the Prime Minister around allocation of those personal staff.

In terms of the perceived lack of transparency around that, which I think you raised in your last question. I would point out that the details of those arrangements are published and they are tabled at every estimate sitting, as far as I can recall, through the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee. So the arrangements that are put in place are public and they are transparent. They are available to any member of parliament or indeed those that follow the tabling of reports at Senate estimates.