Comedian Dave Hughes has unleashed on Anthony Albanese’s “unbelievable” army of 59 personal advisers, some of whom are paid more than $400,000 a year to work exclusively for the PM.
It comes as a politics expert warns the real issue isn’t the size of the Prime Minister’s staff, but a trend of “classification inflation” that allows Mr Albanese to quietly bump advisers into higher pay brackets with zero public justification.
In a viral clip over the weekend, Hughesy — who has become a vocal critic of the Labor government over the past year — tore into Mr Albanese over his sprawling inner circle and the massive bill left to taxpayers.
“(Mr Albanese) has a lot of advisers, I’ve done the research,” Hughes said.
“Personal advisers — they advise him and noone else, and they get paid a s***load of money to do it, and there’s an unbelievable amount of them.”
Mr Hughes went on to list the salaries for all of Mr Albanese’s advisers, saying they ranged from almost $210,000 to $422,000, inclusive of 15 per cent superannuation and allowances.
Hughes said the advisers also did an average of $56,000 worth of travel in 2025 alone.
“You know the saying, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth? Well Australia’s broth has been f***ing ruined,” he fumed.
“We’ve got to reduce government spending. How many of these 59 advisers on this massive amount of money do you reckon are going to advise Albanese to take my advice and reduce government spending?”
The video racked up almost 100,000 views and hundreds of comments, inflaming concerns about excessive government spending that is driving inflation during a cost-of-living crisis.
But was Hughesy’s rant accurate?
By the numbers: the PM’s personal staff
In short, yes — the numbers Hughes cites are broadly in line with those in government documents.
It’s correct that Mr Albanese has 59 personal advisers, according to a May snapshot of personal employee positions tabled in Senate Estimates by the Department of Finance.
Trailing behind Mr Albanese on the list is Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who each have 19 personal advisers.
The Department of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to questions from news.com.au, but a look at the main industrial contract for personal advisers, the Commonwealth Members of parliament Staff Enterprise Agreement 2024-27, revealed the salaries these workers receive.
Level 5 senior advisers, of which Mr Albanese has six, can earn up to $317,000 a year, or $365,818 including 15.4 per cent super, according to the agreement.
They are also eligible for a personal staff allowance of $39,000 and a private-plated vehicle allowance of $20,000, bringing the total pay package in the most extreme case to almost $425,000.
At the lower end, level 1 senior advisers, of which Mr Albanese has 17, earn up to $190,000, totalling $278,260 including super and allowances.
These employees are charged with offering partisan advice on government policies and legislation, handling the Prime Minister’s media engagement, liaising with stakeholders and co-ordinating his daily schedule, among other duties.
They are different from the public service, who provide neutral, evidence-based policy advice.
Staff salaries are ‘creeping up’ – politics expert
Australian National University Associate Professor of Politics Maria Maley said Mr Albanese’s headcount of 59 staff was not unusually large compared to recent predecessors like Tony Abbott, who had 58.
A big expansion happened between Paul Keating (30 staff) and John Howard (50 staff), and the number has hovered around the high 50s for over a decade, Prof Maley told news.com.au.
But while the number of staff had stayed roughly the same, their pay had been “creeping up” in recent years.
“It is certainly true that the classifications of staff have gone up under Albanese. So he has more people classified as senior advisers, than, say, Scott Morrison,” Prof Maley said.
“In 2022, Scott Morrison had 37 staff at senior adviser level, and Anthony Albanese’s got 45. That is certainly a trend of salary levels creeping up — a classification inflation, whatever you want to call it.”
Prof Maley said there was more transparency about ministerial staff and their allocation in other countries.
The Members of Parliament Staff Act gives the prime minister “total power” to decide how many staff that he and any MP should have and what level they’re appointed at, she said.
“So we never get any justification for these staffing patterns. They may be necessary and completely justified, but we are never provided with any justification for those staffing decisions, and I think that’s a problem.”
Prof Maley said despite that lack of transparency, senior advisers still play a “very important role” in government.
“Part of paying them highly is to retain them, because you don’t want a lot of turnover in those very important positions if you’re a prime minister; and part of it is to reward the insecurity and the demanding nature of that job.”
High number of staff ‘makes no sense’ – Hughesy
Speaking with news.com.au, Hughes said he stood by his call that Mr Albanese had far too many staff.
“Fifty-nine advisers for one person — that makes sense on no planet, especially with the result’s they’ve produced,” he said.
“Every time you see him you think, ‘God, someone should have advised him not to do that’.
“Australia’s been absolutely conned by our public sector, who are taking in crazy amounts of money.”
He pointed to a study by Oxford Economics which had ranked Canberra first in the world for quality of life last month.
“Canberra is number one in the world — why? Because it’s basically completely funded by the Australian taxpayer, who is paying all those public sector jobs’ wages, and they’re all getting ridiculous amounts of money,” Hughes said.
Read related topics:Anthony Albanese