Crossbench politicians have described a crisis of staff burnout from the relentless volume of online hate and threats directed at their offices, with some resorting to private fundraising to employ enough advisers to share the workload.
NSW Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi told this masthead there had been times she had to tell staff not to answer the phones because of the level of hate and abuse. Faruqi said the emotional impact of the high volume of threats directly challenged her ability to provide assistance to constituents, noting she had used counselling from the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. Faruqi said pictures of human faeces had been sent to her and fellow independent senator Fatima Payman's email inboxes this week, distressing staff.
Payman said her office missed an email from the Australian Federal Police regarding the conviction of a Queensland man who targeted her, because a staff member was taking a mental health day after exposure to "sustained abusive" content. "My staff are on the verge of breakdown and there is no practical way of sharing the burden without shutting the office entirely," Payman said.
Payman, who left the Labor Party last term, has not been granted additional personal staffing by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, leaving her with the equal lowest staffing allocation of any crossbencher. She said repeated requests for more staff had received no response. Independent MP Nicolette Boele, who represents Bradfield, has one additional staffer while the five other teal independents have two. She told this masthead she had asked for more staff to keep her team safe and to support her community, which includes large Jewish and Chinese-Australian communities, but was turned down. Boele has privately funded a social media staffer to monitor threats.
Teal MP Sophie Scamps said young female staff in her office were on the front line of filtering threats and harassment, and a beloved team member recently stepped back after feeling burnt out. "The aggression, the toxicity, it takes its toll," Scamps said.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett has confirmed the force is charging one individual a week with threats to politicians. Under federal legislation, each MP is entitled to five electorate officers, but the provision of higher-paid personal staff is at the prime minister's discretion. Albanese has faced criticism for both cutting crossbench staffing after the 2022 election and the opposition's after the 2025 election.