Members of the Australian Senate, 2016–2019
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate following the 2016 Australian federal election held on 2 July 2016. The election was held as a consequence of a double dissolution in which both houses of parliament were dissolved. Ordinarily, only half of the senators terms end at each election. In this case, all 76 senators were elected. At the first sitting following the election, half of the senators representing each of the six states of Australia were allocated six-year terms to end on 30 June 2022, with the remainder allocated three-year terms to end on 30 June 2019.[1] The terms of senators from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory end on the day of the next federal election.[2]</ref>
Government (30)
Coalition
Liberal (21)
Liberal National (5)[lower-roman 1]
National (3)
Country Liberal (1)[lower-roman 2]
Opposition (26)
Labor (26)
Crossbench (20)
Greens (9)
One Nation (4)
Centre Alliance (3)
Family First (1)
Hinch's Justice (1)
Jacqui Lambie (1)
Liberal Democratic (1)
- Three Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) senators sit in the Liberal party room, while two sit in the National party room.
- Senator Nigel Scullion (CLP) sits in the Nationals party room.
Government (31)
Coalition
Liberal (22)
Liberal National (5)[lower-roman 1]
National (3)
Country Liberal (1)[lower-roman 2]
Opposition (26)
Labor (26)
Crossbench (19)
Greens (9)
Centre Alliance (2)
One Nation (2)
Hinch's Justice (1)
Conservatives (1)
Liberal Democrat (1)
United Australia (1)
Conservative National (1)
Independent (1)[lower-roman 3]
- Three Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) senators sit in the Liberal party room, while two sit in the National party room.
- Senator Nigel Scullion (CLP) sits in the Nationals party room.
- The independent senator is Tim Storer (South Australia) who was expelled from the Nick Xenophon Team before he was declared elected by the High Court in place of Skye Kakoschke-Moore.
In accordance with section 13 of the Constitution,[3] it was left to the Senate to decide which Senators were allocated six- and three-year terms. The senate resolved that the first elected six of twelve Senators in each state would serve six-year terms, while the other six elected in each state would serve three-year terms. This had been the Senate practice on all seven previous occasions that required allocation of long and short terms.[4] In 1983 the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform had unanimously recommended an alternative "recount" method to reflect proportional representation,[5] and section 282 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act was added in 1984 to provide for a recount on that basis.[6] This alternative method had been supported by both major parties in senate resolutions passed in 1998[7] and 2010.[4][8][9][10] Despite the previous resolutions, an agreement between Liberal's Mathias Cormann and Labor's Penny Wong led the Senate to choose the order-elected method again. As a result, in New South Wales, Labor's Deborah O'Neill got a six-year term at the expense of The Greens' Lee Rhiannon getting a three-year term, while in Victoria Liberal's Scott Ryan got a six-year term at the expense of the Justice Party's Derryn Hinch getting a three-year term. Both methods of allocation had the same outcome for all other senators.[11][12][13][14]
Notes
- The term of some senators originally ended in 2019, but was extended to 2022 after resignations and recounts.[1]
- The terms of senators from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory end on the next dissolution of the House of Representatives.
- The changes to the composition of the Senate, in chronological order, were Conroy resigned, Day resigned, Culleton resigned from One Nation, Culleton was declared bankrupt, Bernardi resigned from the Liberal Party, Gichuhi became an independent, Ludlam resigned, Waters resigned, Back resigned, the High Court ruled on the Citizenship 7, Xenophon resigned, Parry resigned, Anning resigned from One Nation, Lambie resigned, Kakoschke-Moore resigned, Dastyari resigned, Gichuhi joined the Liberal Party, Brandis resigned, Galagher resigned, Martin joined the Nationals, Burston joined the UAP, Rhiannon resigned, Bartlett resigned, Bushby resigned, Collins resigned, Leyonhjelm resigned, and Smith resigned.<ref name='Smith' group='lower-alpha'>
- On 27 October 2017, the High Court of Australia ruled that Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, Nationals Senator Fiona Nash and Greens Senator Larissa Waters were held to be "incapable of being chosen" as Senators because they held foreign citizenship.[24] The High Court had previously held that the presence of a person whose election was void did not invalidate the proceedings of the Senate.[18] Their seats have been filled by a recount, which elected Jordon Steele-John, Fraser Anning and Andrew Bartlett, replacing Ludlam, Roberts and Waters respectively. Nash's replacement, Hollie Hughes, was referred to the full bench of the High Court, and was deemed ineligible under Section 44(iv). Jim Molan was elected on recount.[25]
- Fraser Anning was declared elected at a recount to replace Malcolm Roberts as a Senator for One Nation, but left the party within an hour of being sworn in on 13 November 2017.
- On 21 January 2019, Tasmanian Liberal Senator David Bushby resigned from the Senate to take up the role of Australia's consul-general in Chicago. His sister Wendy Askew was appointed as his replacement on 6 March 2019.
- Western Australian Liberal Senator Chris Back resigned on 31 July 2017. Slade Brockman was appointed as his replacement on 16 August 2017.
- On 27 August 2018, Queensland Greens Senator Andrew Bartlett resigned from the Senate to contest the lower house Division of Brisbane. Larissa Waters was appointed as his replacement on 6 September 2018.
- On 7 February 2017, Senator for South Australia Cory Bernardi resigned from the Liberal Party and founded the Australian Conservatives.[15] At the time of the 2019 Australian federal election, he was still the leader of said party. The party disbanded prior to the start of the following parliamentary term and Bernardi became an Independent member.
- Queensland LNP Senator George Brandis resigned on 8 February 2018. Amanda Stoker was appointed as his replacement on 21 March 2018.
- Three Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) senators sit in the Liberal party room.
- On 18 June 2018, Brian Burston joined Clive Palmer's United Australia Party.[16]
- Two Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) senators and one Country Liberal Party (CLP) senator sit in the Nationals party room. Nigel Scullion (CLP) is leader of the Nationals in the Senate.
- On 15 February 2019, Victorian Labor Senator Jacinta Collins resigned from the Senate. Raff Ciccone was appointed as her replacement on 6 March 2019.
- Tasmanian Liberal Senator and President of the Senate Stephen Parry resigned on 2 November 2017 from both positions after discovering he was a citizen of the United Kingdom, due to the recent High Court ruling that foreign citizens could not serve in parliament. Former Senator Richard Colbeck was declared duly elected by the High Court on 9 February 2018.
- Victorian Labor Senator Stephen Conroy resigned on 30 September 2016. Kimberley Kitching was appointed as his replacement on 25 October 2016.
- Western Australian Rod Culleton was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court of Australia on 11 January 2017, and as such was disqualified from being a Senator. The High Court subsequently held he was "incapable of being chosen" as a Senator as he was awaiting sentence on a criminal conviction.[17] The High Court had previously held that the presence of a person whose election was void did not invalidate the proceedings of the Senate.[18] Culleton's seat was filled by a recount, and on 10 March 2017 the High Court declared Peter Georgiou to be elected to the vacancy.
- Culleton resigned from the One Nation party on 18 December 2016.[19]
- Labor Senator Sam Dastyari resigned on 25 January 2018. Kristina Keneally was appointed as his replacement on 14 February 2018.
- South Australian Family First Senator Bob Day resigned on 1 November 2016. The High Court held on 5 April 2017 that Day was "incapable of being chosen" as a Senator as he had an indirect interest in an agreement with the Commonwealth.[20] The High Court had previously held that the presence of a person whose election was void did not invalidate the proceedings of the Senate.[18] Day's seat was filled by a recount, and Lucy Gichuhi was declared elected on 19 April 2017.[21]
- Lee Rhiannon resigned from the Senate on 15 August 2018. Her seat was filled by former New South Wales Legislative Council member Mehreen Faruqi.
- On 9 May 2018, ACT Labor Senator Katy Gallagher was found by the High Court to be ineligible to be a senator. David Smith was elected in a special count as her replacement on 23 May 2018.
- On 26 April 2017, Family First merged with the Australian Conservatives—with Lucy Gichuhi declining to join the new party, she became an independent.[22]
- On 2 February 2018 Lucy Gichuhi joined the Liberal Party.[23]
- South Australian NXT Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore resigned on 22 November 2017 after discovering she was a citizen of the United Kingdom, due to the recent High Court ruling that foreign citizens could not serve in parliament. Tim Storer, an NXT candidate in 2016, was declared duly elected by the High Court on 9 February 2018. Storer was expelled from the party in November 2017, and sits as an independent.
- Tasmanian JLN Senator Jacqui Lambie resigned on 14 November 2017 after discovering she was a citizen of the United Kingdom, due to the recent High Court ruling that foreign citizens could not serve in parliament. Steve Martin, a JLN candidate in 2016, was declared duly elected by the High Court on 9 February 2018, following a special count. Lambie had expelled Martin from the party on 7 February, so he initially sat as an independent.
- On 1 March 2019, New South Wales Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm resigned from the Senate to contest the New South Wales state election. Duncan Spender was appointed as his replacement on 20 March 2019.
- Scott Ludlam resigned on 14 July 2017 after realising he held New Zealand citizenship, due to legal advice that he was ineligible to be a senator under Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.
- Steve Martin, formerly an independent Senator for Tasmania, joined the Nationals on 28 May 2018.[26]
- South Australian Senator and Nick Xenophon Team leader Nick Xenophon resigned from the Senate on 31 October 2017. Rex Patrick was appointed as his replacement on 14 November 2017.
- David Smith resigned on 11 April 2019 to contest the lower house Division of Bean.
- Larissa Waters resigned on 18 July 2017 after realising she held Canadian citizenship, due to legal advice that she was ineligible to be a senator under Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.
References
- "Senators by service expiry date". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 2 May 2019.[lower-alpha 1]
- Odgers' Australian Senate Practice. Parliament of Australia.[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]
- Constitution (Cth) s 13 Rotation of senators.
- "Division of the Senate following simultaneous general elections". Odgers' Australian Senate Practice (14th ed.). Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform (13 September 1983). "First report - electoral reform" (PDF). Parliament of Australia. pp. 66–7.
- Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) s 282 Re-count of Senate votes to determine order of election in other circumstances.
- "Election of Senators" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Commonwealth of Australia: Senate. 29 June 1998. pp. 4326–4327.
- "Double Dissolution". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Commonwealth of Australia: Senate. 22 June 2010. p. 3912.
- Green, A (25 April 2016). "How long and short terms are allocated after a double dissolution". ABC.net.au.
- "Double dissolution election: implications for the Senate". Parliament of Australia. 29 January 2016.
- "Election 2016: Pauline Hanson secures six-year Senate term, Derryn Hinch has three years until re-election". ABC News. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
- "Senate terms: Derryn Hinch and Greens' Lee Rhiannon given three years". The Guardian. 12 August 2016.
- "ALP-LNP deal to force senators back to poll in three years". The Australian. 13 August 2016.
- "Coalition and Labor team up to clear out crossbench senators in 2019". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 August 2016.
- "Senator Cory Bernardi". aph.gov.au. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
- Gribbin, Caitlyn (18 June 2018). "Brian Burston joins Clive Palmer's United Australia Party as Senate leader". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- McIlroy, Tom (11 January 2017). "Former One Nation senator Rodney Culleton officially removed from Parliament". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
- Vardon v O'Loghlin [1907] HCA 69, (1907) 5 CLR 201.
- Knott, Matthew (18 December 2016). "'I'm glad to see the back of him': Rod Culleton resigns from Pauline Hanson's One Nation party". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- Re Day [No 2] [2017] HCA 14, "Judgment summary" (PDF). High Court of Australia.
- Doran, Matthew; Belot, Henry; Crothers, Joanna (19 April 2017). "Family First senator Lucy Gichuhi survives ALP challenge over citizenship concerns". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Belot, Henry (26 April 2017). "Cory Bernardi unwilling to wait for Lucy Gichuhi to 'get her head around' things". ABC News. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- "Lucy Gichuhi, independent senator, joins Liberal Party". ABC News. 2 February 2018.
- Re Canavan [2017] HCA 45. "Judgment summary" (PDF). High Court. 27 October 2017.
- "Five of the Citizenship Seven booted by High Court". ABC News. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
- "Tasmanian Steve Martin joins the Nationals, boosting Coalition Senate numbers". afr.com. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.