The federal opposition has had its staffing allocation slashed by the Albanese government, in a move that potentially limits the Coalition’s ability to hold the government to account.

For decades, by convention, the opposition of the day has been given about 21 per cent of the staff allocated to the government to do tasks like analyse legislation, meet with community representatives and prepare for hearings.

In practice, the opposition would typically have about 80 staff shared between a 30-member shadow ministry. The government of the day would typically share about 500 advisers among the 30-member ministry, assistant ministers and special envoys.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has written to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and advised her that the opposition, which now has just 43 MPs in the lower house, will have its staffing levels reduced.

In the last parliament, the government had about 500 advisers and the opposition had about 100. The number of opposition advisers for the new parliament has been reduced to the 80s, while the government allocation has also fallen, but by fewer roles.

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The move prompted shadow special minister of state James McGrath to accuse the Albanese government of acting arrogantly and vindictively.

“The prime minister has personally cut the opposition’s staffing allocation and made the Australian parliament less capable of holding him and his government accountable,” McGrath said.

“The prime minister today has shown himself to be personally vindictive and nasty. By breaking convention and stripping staff from the opposition, the prime minister’s arrogance is an attack on accountability.

“Given Labor’s historically significant majority, this arrogant decision to diminish opposition resourcing comes at his government’s most powerful electoral moment, which is precisely the time our country needs a strong opposition.”

The ranks of senior advisers, who typically earn between $130,000 and $180,000 per year, have been particularly targeted.

About 16 of the 20 roles cut from the opposition’s allocation are senior advisers, which means in practice that staffers with years of experience will either have to take a pay cut, or leave.

Even though the number of opposition MPs has dramatically thinned, there are still 30 members of the shadow ministry as in the previous parliament.

For the opposition of the day, their staff play a vital role – along with the Parliamentary Library – in developing policy, providing advice, interacting with the media and more.

A government spokesperson said it was routine practice to revise staff allocations before parliamentary terms.

“Staffing allocations are made based on a range of considerations, including demonstrated need and individual circumstances. The government and opposition staffing allocations have both been lowered,” they said.

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The spokesperson also pointed out that the government had given every MP an additional staff member in the previous parliament to help manage growing workloads, and that the government would have 17 extra MPs in the lower house in this term, while the opposition would have 15 fewer.

However, this does not fully account for why so many senior adviser positions were cut.