Worst result in 70 years: meet Nita Green, Labor’s sole new Qld senator

Meet the woman who is walking proof of Labor’s failures in Queensland: Nita Green.

New North Queensland senator Nita Green is given a hero's welcome at the Labor Party's post election party at the Reef Hotel Casino, Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

Labor has recorded its worst Senate result since 1949 in the battleground state of Queensland, securing just one seat after One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts and the Greens’ Larissa Waters managed to win the fourth and sixth spots.

Outgoing Labor senator Chris Ketter, who was given the usually winnable second spot on the party’s Queensland Senate ticket behind Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union organiser Nita Green, has lost his seat in a major blow to the ALP.

The failure to win two upper house seats in the Sunshine State reflects Labor’s poor showing in the House of Representatives, where the party took just six of 30 Queensland electorates — a net loss of two.

The Liberal National Party picked up three Senate seats for Paul Scarr, Susan McDonald and Gerard Rennick — all newcomers to the upper house.

Labor has not had a worse result since Australia begun electing senators using the proportional representation system in 1949, which ensured the upper house was composed fairly evenly of government and non-government senators.

Mr Ketter, who was first elected in 2013 and was the deputy opposition whip in the Senate, said he had long understood the significance of regional Queensland and spoken out strongly on regional inequality.

“My belief in the Australian Labor Party, its values, and its commitment to delivering a better way of life for all Australians is undiminished, and I will continue my involvement with the party of which I have been a member for more than three decades,” he said.

“Labor senators have been on the frontline fighting against the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison cuts of the past six years. I congratulate Nita Green once again on her election and leave the Senate knowing that there is a talented and passionate Labor team ready to hold the government to account and to stand up for Queensland.”

Senator-elect Waters said the Greens “try to bring more heart and hope to politics” and she was “so humbled to continue as part of our federal team for the next six years”.

SA, WA senate results

The South Australian and Western Australian Senate results have also been announced today, with the Liberal Party winning six seats, Labor taking four seats and the Greens retaining its two seats for Sarah Hanson-Young and Jordon Steele-John.

Only the Victorian Senate results are still to be revealed, all but confirming the Coalition will have 35 upper house seats in the 46th parliament — four more than it had in the current parliament.

The Senate crossbench will consist of two Centre Alliance senators, Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff, two One Nation senators, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi and Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie.

Labor MPs said the same issues in lower-house seats in the state — equivocation over the Adani coalmine and an ambitious policy agenda that included contentious changes to negative gearing and dividend imputation credits — were at play in the Senat­e.

Labor traditionally wins at least two Senate seats in each state but in 2013 it picked up only one in South Australia and in Western Australia because of competition from the Nick Xenophon Team and Palmer United Party.

Senator-elect Green has promised to locate her Senate office in Far North Queensland.

Queensland Senate results: 1. Paul Scarr, Liberal National Party of Queensland; 2. Nita Green, Australian Labor Party; 3. Susan McDomald, Liberal National Party of Queensland; 4. Malcolm Roberts, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation; 5. Gerard Rennick, Liberal National Party of Queensland; 6. Larissa Waters, The Greens.

South Australian Senate results: 1. Anne Ruston, Liberal; 2. Alex Gallacher, Australian Labor Party; 3. David Fawcett, Liberal; 4. Marielle Smith, Australian Labor Party; 5. Sarah Hanson-Young, The Greens; 6. Alex Antic, Liberal.

Western Australian Senate results: 1. Linda Reynolds, Liberal; Patrick Dodson, Australian Labor Party; 3. Slade Brockman, Liberal; 4. Matt O’Sullivan, Liberal; Louise Pratt, Australian Labor Party; 6. Jordon Steele-John, The Greens (WA).