Within the early debates of the 48th Parliament in Australia, the longstanding method of allocating federal parliamentarians’ staffing resources has been a high-profile and contentious issue. This policy brief investigates the methods used in similar Westminster parliaments (the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand), to help inform future debate within the Australian context.

Australian federal Members of Parliament and Senators are entitled to over $3 million in pay, resources and benefits over a three-year election cycle. These resources can be used to boost re-election chances. Combined with changes to electoral laws coming into force, this paper finds that these threaten to make Australian elections less competitive than ever.

This review examined concerns about the adequacy of resources in federal parliamentarian offices and reviewed factors affecting workloads in federal parliamentarian offices. The review proposed 10 recommendations to improve support systems and processes and enhance the resources available to support this important work.

The objective of this audit was to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority’s administration of parliamentary expenses claimed by Australian parliamentarians.

The Victorian Ombudsman was asked by the Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Assembly to investigate MPs’ knowledge of, and involvement in, fraudulent activity undertaken by former Liberal State Director, Damien Mantach, between 2010 and 2015. This report outlines the Ombudsman's findings.