‘Humbled’ Jacqui Lambie returned to Senate

Top priority is to ensure the government doesn’t “try slip something dodgy” through.

Jacqui Lambie has been returned to the Senate. Picture: Chris Kidd

The outspoken Jacqui Lambie will make her mark in the Senate once again, after the Tasmanian won the state’s sixth and final upper house spot at the May 18 election.

The Australian Electoral Commission has confirmed Tasmanian Liberal Senate candidates Richard Colbeck and Claire Chandler have been elected, as has Labor’s Carol Brown and Catryna Bilyk.

There will be two newly elected Tasmanian crossbenchers, Ms Lambie and the Greens’ Nick McKim.

A “humbled” Ms Lambie, who has a six-year Senate term, said her first priority was to ensure the government did not “try slip something dodgy” through the federal parliament when it sits in July.

“The next couple of months are going to be a bit of a whirlwind,” she said.

“We have less than three weeks until the first sitting day of the new Senate, which isn’t a lot of time to get the office back up and firing. I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed and the count has been looking positive for us since election night, but I have been careful to keep a lid on things until the result was official.

Jacqui Lambie during her resignation. Picture: Gary Ramage

“Now that the people of Tasmania have spoken, it’s time for the real work to start.”

It is expected Ms Lambie will be one of six crossbenchers in the 46th parliament.

If Labor and the Greens oppose government legislation, the Coalition must win over four of those crossbenchers to push through bills, meaning Ms Lambie’s vote will at times be crucial.

Former Labor senator Lisa Singh, who was placed in the party’s unwinnable fourth Senate spot, failed to get re-elected but did pick up 19,984 below-the-line votes, according to the latest counting.

Nick McKim has also been re-elected to the Senate. Picture: David Killick

Jacqui Lambie Network defector Steve Martin, who replaced Ms Lambie in the Senate before joining the Nationals, has also lost his seat.

First elected in 2013 under the Palmer United Party banner, Ms Lambie — who quit PUP in 2014 to become an independent — had a colourful political career until she was forced to resign in November 2017 for being a dual British citizen.

An advocate for veterans and Australians on welfare payments, she was devastated when she had to quit federal parliament and has warned the major parties she has unfinished business in Canberra.

The successful candidates for the six Senate vacancies for Tasmania are (in order of their election):

1. Richard Colbeck — Liberal

2. Carol Brown — Australian Labor Party

3. Claire Chandler — Liberal

4. Nick McKim — The Greens

5. Catryna Bilyk — Australian Labor Party

6. Jacqui Lambie — Jacqui Lambie Network