This will focus on the party changes.
Fraser Anning was elected with Pauline Hanson. He has left her.
Steven Martin was elected with Jacqui Lambie. He has left her.
Tim Storer was elected with Nick Xenophon. He has left him.
Lucy Gichuhi was with Bob Day and Family First. Now she’s with the Liberals.
This makes the Senate numbers interesting.
Currently (!!) they are:
| Coalition – 29 | ALP – 26 |
| Greens – 9 | One Nation – 3 |
| Nick Xenophon Team (less Nick, who is running in the SA Parliament!) – 2 | Liberal Democrats – 1 |
| Australian Conservatives (Cory Bernardi – who was elected a Liberal) - 1 | Hinch – 1 |
| Anning – 1 | Martin - 1 |
| Storer – 1 |
But Anning, Bernardi and Leyonhjelm have established a form of ‘voting bloc‘ so they can get ‘the first phone call from the Prime Minister when legislative deals are being done, although that still leaves the bloc (should they choose to vote together, something they already say isn’t a given with every vote) plus the Government well short of the 39 votes needed to pass legislation.
Those needing to work out the way to either get to 39 (or prevent 39 being reached) will still need either courage or luck (or both) to identify the alliance of votes to achieve the preferred outcome.
If you require assistance in the design or implementation of policy or legislation, drop us a line at corke@kmcorke.com.au
We look forward to hear from you.