Pauline Hanson has retained her senate spot in Queensland and is set to serve another six-year term in Australia’s federal parliament.
Her win means LNP senator Amanda Stoker has lost her seat and will depart politics, four years after she was selected to replace George Brandis.
With some of the final results of the Senate race coming in this week, it is also now clear that United Australia Party candidate, Ralph Babet, has been elected to Victoria’s sixth Senate spot.
Babet, a real estate agent from Melbourne, won the seat from Liberal Greg Mirabella, and is the only United Australia Party to win a seat this election.
The senate results so far have seen a shift away from the Coalition, with Labor potentially holding 26 seats, the Greens holding 12, the Jacqui Lambie Network holding 2, and independent David Pocock elected in the ACT.
The Liberal and National parties will hold 32 seats when combined, One Nation will hold 2 seats, and the United Australia party will hold 1.
The Centre Alliance’s Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff have both lost their seats in South Australia, after the Greens and the Liberal Party each picked up a seat.
Western Australia’s final count is still to be declared, but it looks like Labor’s Fatima Payman is likely to pick up the final and sixth senate spot.
While the overall senate results have not been officially declared by the Australian Electoral Commission, it is clear that the Senate will continue to be dominated by women, as it was during the previous parliament.
There could be up to 56 per cent women in the senate in the 47th parliament. Meanwhile, Senator Penny Wong has been confirmed as the government’s Senate leader.
According to the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green, the Labor party will need the support of the Greens and at least one other crossbench member to pass legislation in the senate. In this scenario, ACT independent David Pocock’s vote will be crucial, as will the votes of Jacqui Lambie and her new senate colleague Tammy Tyrrell.