Clive Palmer keeps one seat in federal parliament, Senate makeup finalised
Clive Palmer’s party will maintain a small presence in the new parliament after his No 1 Victorian Senate candidate Ralph Babet was elected.
Clive Palmer’s party will maintain a small presence in the new parliament after the mining billionaire’s mammoth election spend – estimated as up to $100m – saw his No 1 Victorian Senate candidate Ralph Babet elected.
The make-up of the Senate was finalised on Monday with the declaration of senators in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia, which confirmed Labor will have to negotiate with the Greens and one other crossbencher to pass legislation if it does not have the Coalition’s support.
There will be 26 Labor senators compared with 32 from the Coalition. The crossbench will have 12 Greens senators, two senators for both the Jacqui Lambie Network and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Mr Babet and ACT independent David Pocock.
Little is known about Mr Babet, who has a real estate business with younger brother Matt. The Australian revealed in May that he had faced three rounds of criminal proceedings over the past decade, including for unlawful assault and criminal damage. The charges were either discharged, withdrawn or dismissed.
Mr Babet’s election meant Liberal senator Greg Mirabella – husband of former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella – lost the party’s fifth seat in Victoria. The Liberals also lost one seat respectively in the ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia but gained a seat in South Australia with the demise of Centre Alliance, which held two seats in the previous parliament.
“The outcome of the federal campaign poses many questions for the Liberal Party,” Senator Mirabella said.
“As an organisation, we must frankly and honestly reflect on how we can promote our values to a broad nationwide constituency.”
Labor’s Senate representation is steady, while the Greens - who now have two senators in every state across the country - have seen upper house numbers increased by three. Senator Lambie will be joined by upper house colleague Tammy Tyrrell.
Despite failing to win any extra Senate seats, Anthony Albanese should have an easier time negotiating his agenda through the chamber than former prime minister Kevin Rudd when he was first elected in 2007. The Rudd government had 32 Senate seats but, without the Coalition’s backing, needed the support of the five Greens, the conservative Family First party and independent Nick Xenophon to pass bills.
Mr Albanese only needs to win over the Greens and the Climate 200-backed Senator Pocock.
Mr Palmer said he would spend between $70m and $100m on the election campaign but still has just one seat, after Liberal defector-turned-UAP MP Craig Kelly lost his former south Sydney electorate of Hughes.
Mr Kelly has been appointed UAP’s national director.
Mr Palmer said Mr Babet, who he described as a former business owner, understood “what is required for economic prosperity in this country”.
Hypocrisy, bad taste and other follies of 2024
On New Year’s Day 2024, morale was relatively high since the Year of the Dragon was expected to usher in a time of rational thinking. Not quite how it worked out.
Dutton nuclear plan ‘economic madness’
Jim Chalmers has fired the first salvo in what is likely to be a sustained campaign of economic attacks by Labor on Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, to be driven by the Treasurer himself.