Why has Pauline Hanson joined forces with Muslim and Vietnamese-born MPs

Pauline Hanson and Fatima Payman have clashed over race, religion and politics.

But this week, the One Nation leader and Muslim independent senator stood together, alongside Vietnamese-born independent MP Dai Le.

At the centre of their unlikely alliance is a fight over parliamentary staffing, with the three accusing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of unfairly determining who gets additional staff and calling for the system to be taken out of the prime minister's hands.

The unlikely trio appeared together at Parliament House on Thursday, arguing the way personal staff are allocated to politicians is unfair and lacks transparency.

Their grievance centres on an unusual feature of Australia's parliamentary system: while MPs and senators employ their own staff, the prime minister has significant discretion over the allocation of additional personal staff.

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Despite their political differences, all three say they are being denied the staffing resources they need to do adequately their jobs.

Payman, who left Labor in 2024 after crossing the Senate floor over Palestinian statehood, currently has no additional personal staff allocated to her.

Le, who defeated Labor to win the western Sydney seat of Fowler as an independent in 2022, has one.

One Nation, meanwhile, increased its representation at the 2025 election but says its staffing allocation did not increase accordingly.

According to AAP, modelling puts One Nation's allocation at 0.83 personal staff per parliamentarian, compared with 4.09 for Labor and 1.47 for the Coalition.

Those figures include different categories of parliamentarians and office-holders, so they are not a direct like-for-like comparison of backbench MPs.

Hanson, Payman and Le argue the differences demonstrate the need for a more transparent and independent system.

According to The Conversation, Le told reporters on Thursday there were "no published criteria, no explanation, no appeal" for staffing decisions.