AB asks I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that if their numbers fell below a certain threshold in the Senate (which would happen with Perin Davey losing her spot), the Nationals would lose out on some staffing or similar there as well – could have been party status, if I remember rightly?

Well, they are going to lose out on staffing now anyway as they are no longer the opposition. So if the Liberals are the opposition and the Nats are not part of that, they lose staff (they’ll only have electoral staff like every other backbencher) and the Nats who were in the shadow ministry lose the 25% base top up.

And the Nats state parties aren’t known for paying their affiliation fees, so unlike the Greens, the party doesn’t have a lot of money to dip into for extra staff etc.

Which means National ‘spokespeople’ will be going it largely alone with no extra resources.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?