From The Australian

Teal independent MP Monique Ryan declared an ambition to “be the prime minister one day”, according to an affidavit tendered in her staffer Sally Rugg’s Federal Court case against her.

In evidence on Friday, Ms Rugg claimed Dr Ryan said: “You don’t understand, I need to be the best, this is bigger than Kooyong. I don’t know what this is going to be, but I know it’s bigger than Kooyong.”

“Dr Ryan said ‘I want to be the prime minister one day, and I need to know my staff are prepared to work hard for me … If you are not prepared to work as hard as I want, I will need to consider my options,” Ms Rugg says her boss told her.

“I asked Dr Ryan what she meant by that, and she said ‘Well, I would have to let you go’.

Ms Rugg’s barrister, Angel Aleksov, argued his client was not “work shy”, but was simply being asked by Dr Ryan to work hours which “ordinary human intelligence” would indicate were “not reasonable” in light of her employment package worth more than $160,000.

Mr Aleksov told the Federal Court on Friday Ms Rugg was “pushed or jostled” by Dr Ryan into resigning from the “chief of staff” role, for which she received a base salary of about $136,000, as well as “personal allowance” for additional hours of more than $30,000.