Greens senator Richard Di Natale has lost 16 staff in the 18 months since he became party leader, out of a total office complement of 23 people.

But Dr Di Natale has characterised the comparatively high turnover as a matter of putting his own stamp on the office of leader and building his own team.

Staff who have headed to the exit include a communications director, two campaign advisers, a policy director and several more junior policy advisers and a personal assistant.

Leaders' offices are high-pressure environments that do see a regular turnover of staff, while the Department of Finance's pay-out arrangements are also particularly favourable for staff in the immediate aftermath of an election.