Calls from multiple federal politicians to abolish so-called "dirt sheets" have intensified at the same time as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's office is under scrutiny over a document compiled about independent MP Helen Haines ahead of an alleged attack on her.

Before the most recent federal election, Haines had voiced opposition to Labor's grant programme — which operated on an invitation-only basis — pointing to the $6 million awarded to the Marrickville Golf Club, a venue located within Albanese's own electorate. A briefing document covering funding requests Haines had put forward on behalf of her electorate was distributed by Albanese's media team to a selection of press gallery journalists that September.

Records within the document showed Haines had put forward over $1.8 billion worth of funding requests ahead of the 2025 budget, a disclosure that came in response to her characterisation of the government's spending decisions as "pork barrelling". While not disputing that the document existed, the prime minister described it as a compilation of funding requests for the electorate rather than an attack on Haines personally, adding that standing up for one's constituency is what people of integrity do.

On Thursday, opponents from rival parties described the widespread practice as dishonest and improper. Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Ted O'Brien called on the prime minister to be open with the Australian public and show leadership during the week Haines was taken to hospital after a driver allegedly hit her outside her electorate on Monday, adding separately that the publication in question was far from complimentary.

O'Brien described dirt sheets as an unavoidable feature of political life, while stopping short of stating whether the Coalition had taken part in the same practice. He told a broadcast news outlet that speaking plainly about matters of this kind was something people ought to do.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson levelled an allegation against both the Coalition and Labor, characterising their use of taxpayer-funded staff for electoral purposes as a "grubby practice" and contending that ordinary Australians were finding it difficult to meet everyday expenses while the two major parties directed public resources toward such activity.

Crossbench Senator David Pocock characterised the conduct of staff working for the prime minister as underhand, arguing that attempts to explain away the matter rather than accept responsibility and offer an apology fell short of what was warranted. Greens Senate leader David Shoebridge separately called on Anthony Albanese to account for the circulation of what Shoebridge described as a document targeting Haines, adding that any comparison of integrity records between the Labor Party and Haines would favour Haines.

All of this unfolded while Haines remained a patient at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne on Friday, recovering after both her legs were amputated following what police have described as an attack outside her Wangaratta electorate office earlier that week.

Labor frontbencher Mark Butler, who characterised the document as something other than a dirt sheet, told a broadcaster that the timing was wrong for that particular discussion, arguing that with Helen in the condition she was in, attention and collective goodwill ought to be directed toward her and her family rather than toward the dispute, and that the broader conversation about the tone of public discourse — one he regarded as warranted — deserved to be had without that distraction.