Lambie in crisis as Senate count continues

Jacqui Lambie is fighting head on with Pauline Hanson’s daughter to keep her job and it’s not looking good right now.

Jacqui Lambie is in a fight to remain in parliament as Senate votes continue to be counted across Australia.

Labor is on track to take at least 27 Senate seats, the Coalition is set to snag 26 and the Greens will seemingly keep their 11 seats – with the rest set to be split among the minor parties.

The Senate results are expected to take weeks to be fully counted.

As counting continues, all eyes are on Tasmania, where Pauline Hanson’s daughter Lee and Ms Lambie are in a fight for the final Senate spot.

Out of Tasmania’s six Senate seats, two have already gone to Labor, one to the Liberals and one to the Greens, with the fifth seat on track to go to Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck.

Just after 2.30pm AEST Monday, the counting was just over halfway done, with Jacqui Lambie sitting at 13,697 votes – 6.67 per cent while Ms Hanson’s One Nation was at 11,270 – 5.49 per cent.

Jacqui Lambie appear on Nine’s election night coverage. Picture: Nine News

However, candidates need to reach 14 per cent for the quota to clinch a seat in the Senate, meaning both Ms Lambie and Ms Hanson will likely need preferences to reach the mark.

The Liberal Party has already voiced that they will preference One Nation over the Jacqui Lambie Network.

It’s an interesting match-up given Pauline Hanson’s comments earlier in the week about Ms Lambie.

In an exclusive interview with news.com.au, Ms Hanson revealed she had “had enough” of Senator Lambie “shrieking” in parliament and had taken matters into her own hands by hitting the campaign trail in Tasmania.

“(Jacqui Lambie) votes constantly all the time with the Labor and Greens. She’s not a conservative,’’ Senator Hanson said.

“I’m not happy with her,” Ms Hanson added.

“I want to see her gone. A swing is on.”

One Nation senator Pauline Hanson handing out how to vote cards for the party at Lansdowne Crescent Primary School in West Hobart. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

However, Senator Hanson’s daughter – who only announced her candidacy a month ago – was quick to distance herself from her mother’s hard-line rhetoric.

“My mother is polarising. I’m not my mother. I’m very different,” Lee Hanson said last month.

“But I appreciate she’s taught me the values of honesty, integrity, to stand up and give a voice to those who don’t feel they have a voice.

“If you had asked me 10 years ago if I would be standing here right now, I would say ‘absolutely not, no way’.”

Friendly Senate for Labor

With at least two new Labor seats and the Greens managing to retain their upper house seats, it appears the two parties are on track to have a majority between them.

It Labor clinches a total 28 – they will only need the okay from the Greens to push bills through.

It’s a welcome change for Greens leader Adam Bandt.

“It certainly sets us up well now for an era of progressive change in the parliament,” he told the Guardian on Monday.

“The Greens are now in sole balance of power in the next parliament. We stand ready in the Senate to make this the most progressive parliament that Australia has seen.”

Originally published as Lambie in crisis as Senate count continues