2016 Australian Senate election
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The 2016 Australian federal election in the Senate was part of a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissolution election since the 1987 election and the first under a new voting system for the Senate that replaced group voting tickets with optional preferential voting.
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2 July 2016
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All 76 seats in the Australian Senate 39 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The final outcome in the 76-seat Australian Senate took over four weeks to complete despite significant voting changes. Earlier in 2016, legislation changed the Senate voting system from a full-preference single transferable vote with group voting tickets to an optional-preferential single transferable vote.[1] The final Senate result was announced on 4 August: Liberal/National Coalition 30 seats (−3), Labor 26 seats (+1), Greens 9 seats (−1), One Nation 4 seats (+4) and Nick Xenophon Team 3 seats (+2). Former broadcaster and founder of the Justice Party Derryn Hinch, won a seat, while Jacqui Lambie, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm and Family First's Bob Day retained their seats. The number of crossbenchers increased by two to a record 20. The Liberal/National Coalition will require at least nine additional votes to reach a Senate majority, an increase of three.[2][3][4]
A number of initially elected senators were declared ineligible a result of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis, and replaced after recounts.
Terms of senators
The two major parties negotiated to allocate a six-year term to the first elected six of twelve senators in each state, while the last six received a three-year term. This was consistent with the Senate practice on all seven previous occasions.[5] In 1983 the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform had unanimously recommended an alternative "recount" method to reflect proportional representation,[6] and the Commonwealth Electoral Act provides for a recount on that basis.[7] This recount method had been supported by both Labor and the Coalition in two separate, identical, bipartisan senate resolutions, passed in 1998 and 2010.[8][5][9] By not using the recount method, Labor and the Coalition each gained one senate seat from 2019 to 2022.[10][11][12][13][14][15]
Australia
The final Senate result was announced on 4 August. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government won 30 seats, a net loss of three − the Coalition lost four Senators, one each from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, but gained a Senator in Victoria. The Labor opposition won 26 seats, a gain of one − a Senator in Western Australia. The number of crossbenchers increased by two to a record 20. The Liberal/National Coalition would require at least nine additional votes to reach a Senate majority, an increase of three.[2][3][4][16]
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Change | ||
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| Liberal–National Coalition | 4,868,246 | 35.18 | –1.32 | 30 |  3 | ||
| Liberal/National joint ticket | 2,769,426 | 20.01 | −1.16 | 10 |  | ||
| Liberal | 1,066,579 | 7.71 | +0.77 | 14 | 2 | ||
| Liberal National | 960,467 | 6.94 | −1.16 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Country Liberal | 37,156 | 0.27 | −0.05 | 1 | | ||
| National (WA) | 34,618 | 0.25 | −0.06 | 0 | | ||
| Labor | 4,123,084 | 29.79 | +0.16 | 26 |  1 | ||
| Greens | 1,197,657 | 8.65 | −0.58 | 9 | 1 | ||
| One Nation | 593,013 | 4.29 | +3.76 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Xenophon Team | 456,369 | 3.30 | +1.37 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | 298,915 | 2.16 | –1.59 | 1 | | ||
| Justice | 266,607 | 1.93 | +1.93 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers | 192,923 | 1.39 | +0.44 | ||||
| Family First | 191,112 | 1.38 | +0.26 | 1 | | ||
| Christian Democrats | 162,155 | 1.17 | +0.63 | ||||
| Animal Justice | 159,373 | 1.15 | +0.46 | ||||
| Liberty Alliance | 102,982 | 0.74 | +0.74 | ||||
| Democratic Labour | 94,510 | 0.68 | –0.18 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Sex Party | 94,262 | 0.68 | –0.64 | ||||
| Health Australia | 85,233 | 0.62 | +0.62 | ||||
| Sex–HEMP Joint Ticket | 76,744 | 0.55 | +0.55 | ||||
| Lambie Network | 69,074 | 0.50 | +0.50 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Christians | 66,525 | 0.48 | +0.09 | ||||
| Drug Law Reform | 61,327 | 0.44 | +0.38 | ||||
| Motoring Enthusiasts | 53,232 | 0.38 | –0.12 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Katter's Australian | 53,123 | 0.38 | –0.50 | ||||
| Glenn Lazarus Team | 45,149 | 0.33 | +0.33 | ||||
| Marriage Equality | 44,982 | 0.33 | +0.33 | ||||
| Arts | 37,702 | 0.27 | +0.27 | ||||
| Rise Up Australia | 36,424 | 0.26 | –0.10 | ||||
| Pirate | 35,184 | 0.25 | –0.11 | ||||
| Renewable Energy | 29,983 | 0.22 | +0.22 | ||||
| Science–Cyclists Joint Ticket | 29,934 | 0.22 | +0.22 | ||||
| HEMP | 29,510 | 0.21 | –0.50 | ||||
| Sustainable Australia | 26,341 | 0.19 | +0.08 | ||||
| Palmer United | 26,210 | 0.19 | –5.42 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Cyclists | 24,276 | 0.18 | +0.18 | ||||
| Voluntary Euthanasia | 23,252 | 0.17 | –0.06 | ||||
| Seniors United | 22,213 | 0.16 | +0.16 | ||||
| VOTEFLUX.ORG | 20,453 | 0.15 | +0.15 | ||||
| Mature Australia | 18,920 | 0.14 | +0.14 | ||||
| Online Direct Democracy | 11,857 | 0.09 | +0.06 | ||||
| Secular | 11,077 | 0.08 | –0.01 | ||||
| Defence Veterans | 10,391 | 0.08 | +0.08 | ||||
| Socialist Alliance | 9,968 | 0.07 | +0.04 | ||||
| Citizens Electoral Council | 9,850 | 0.07 | +0.06 | ||||
| Country | 9,316 | 0.07 | +0.02[e] | ||||
| Socialist Equality | 7,865 | 0.06 | +0.02 | ||||
| Progressives | 6,251 | 0.05 | +0.05 | ||||
| CountryMinded | 5,989 | 0.04 | +0.04 | ||||
| Manufacturing and Farming | 5,268 | 0.04 | +0.04 | ||||
| Australia First | 3,005 | 0.02 | +0.02 | ||||
| Recreational Fishers | 2,376 | 0.02 | +0.02 | ||||
| Non-Custodial Parents | 2,102 | 0.02 | +0.01 | ||||
| Science | 1,306 | 0.01 | +0.01 | ||||
| Unendorsed/ungrouped | 25,280 | 0.18 | +0.00 | ||||
| Total | 13,838,900 | 76 | |||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 567,806 | 3.94 | +1.01 | ||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 15,671,551 | 91.93 | –1.52 | ||||
| Source: Federal Election 2016 | |||||||
New South Wales
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Victoria
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Queensland
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Western Australia
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South Australia
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Tasmania
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Territories
Australian Capital Territory
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Northern Territory
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Notes
- Brandis was the Leader of the Government in the Senate, whereas the leader of the Coalition in the Australian House of Representatives was Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
- Wong was the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, whereas the leader of the Labor Party in the Australian House of Representatives was Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
- 3 LNP Senators sit in the Liberal party room and 2 in the National party room
- Sits in National party room
- formally Country Alliance Party at the 2013 election
- Nash was declared to be ineligible by the Court of Disputed Returns because she was a dual citizen of the United Kingdom.[18] A special recount resulted in Jim Molan being declared to have been elected.
- Roberts was declared to be ineligible by the Court of Disputed Returns because he was a dual citizen of the United Kingdom.[18] A special recount determined that Fraser Anning was elected instead.
- Waters resigned on 18 July 2017 because she was a dual citizen of Canada. The Court of Disputed Returns declared she was ineligible to be elected.[18] A special recount declared Andrew Bartlett had been elected instead.
- Ludlam resigned on 14 July 2017 because he was a dual citizen of New Zealand. The Court of Disputed Returns declared he was ineligible to be elected.[18] A special recount led to Steele-John being declared to have been elected instead.
- Culleton was found ineligible by the Court of Disputed Returns.[19] A special recount led to Georgiou being declared to have been elected on 10 March 2017.[20]
- Kakoschke-Moore resigned on 22 November 2017 after learning she was a British citizen by descent. The Court of Disputed Returns declared she had been ineligible to be elected on 13 February 2018.[21] A special recount determined that Tim Storer was elected instead.
- Day was found ineligible by the Court of Disputed Returns.[22] A special recount led to Gichuhi being declared to have been elected on 19 April 2017.[23]
- In 2016, Lisa Singh was demoted to sixth position on the Labor Party's Tasmanian Senate ticket behind Senator Catryna Bilyk and union secretary John Short.[24] A quota in Tasmania was 26,090 votes with Singh receiving 20,741 below-the-line votes: enough to overturn the party’s ticket order. She was the 10th senator elected for Tasmania, ahead of Catryna Bilyk (elected 11th), with John Short missing out.[25]
- Lambie resigned on 14 November 2017 because she was a dual citizen of the United Kingdom. The Court of Disputed Returns declared she had been ineligible to be elected on 9 February 2018. A special recount determined that Martin was elected instead.