Payman asks if PM is ‘waiting for what happened to Helen Haines’ to occur again

Sarah Basford Canales

At a late-night Senate estimates hearing, independent senator Fatima Payman accused the prime minister of being “petty” by not granting her additional staff members after she defected from Labor in 2024.

Payman has long argued her office is understaffed as part of a personal gripe Anthony Albanese has with her, but she drove the point home amid escalating threats of political violence . The senator told Guardian Australia last week her staff had also had to deal with human faeces being sent to her office, prompting the intervention of a biohazard team.

Payman said she had requested an additional adviser, in line with other independent political offices, two years ago but the prime minister had yet to process the request.

Payman said the extra adviser would assist her office dealing with the “psychosocial hazards” imposed on her staff since leaving Labor.…