My experience as an adviser to Peter Andren – perhaps the first of the modern-day wave of non-party MPs to arrive in Canberra – suggests Labor’s planned cuts to the staff of independents will be a backward step for our democracy. It will also be a serious blow to the more collaborative approach to politics so many Australians have been yearning for.
I had the privilege of serving as an electorate officer and ultimately as chief of staff for Peter from 1996, when he was first elected, until 2001. As the independent member for Calare, in central-west New South Wales, he won wide respect during his 11 years in parliament.
Peter sadly passed away in 2007 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. If he were still with us today, I am sure he’d sympathise with the government’s desire to rein in the ballooning cost of running our federal parliament, which now costs taxpayers well over A$1 billion each year (including MPs and staff), according to the latest budget.
