With innovation in technology and an increasingly complex and intertwined policy environment, the role of parliamentarians has evolved significantly since Federation.
In recent years, the Australian population has also grown rapidly but the number of parliamentarians has remained stable. This fact and the availability of new communications channels mean that more people contact political offices seeking parliamentarians’ views, lobbying them for support, or seeking advice and assistance.
These trends have dramatically increased the workload on parliamentarians and the staff who support them. Due to the political nature of the roles and responsibilities of these staff, the work they perform cannot be appropriately performed by the apolitical Australian Public Service. Rather they are employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (the ‘MOP(S) Act’).
Under the Constitution, Ministers must almost always be drawn from the Parliament. So the role of staff employed by parliamentarians contributes to both the work of Parliament, and the Executive. These staff support; our democratic institutions, decision-making by the Executive, accountability in the Australian Public Service, good governance and the parliamentary process. The combination of a changing political environment and the need to keep pace with community expectations can make for long hours and heavy workloads.
I am pleased to be able to reaffirm the Rudd Government’s commitment to increasing the transparency and accountability of Government, by continuing to make annual reports available for scrutiny by the public.
These annual reports will become increasingly useful over time, providing an ongoing record of staffing data.
As a final note, I would like to extend my grateful thanks, and that of my parliamentary colleagues, to all MOP(S) Act staff for their work assisting the Federal Parliament, the Australian Government, and through them - the Australian people.
Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig
Cabinet Secretary
Special Minister of State
26 October 2009
