Jacqui Lambie secures six-year position in Canberra
The Mercury
August 14, 2016
TASMANIAN senator Jacqui Lambie will occupy her seat in Canberra for the next six years after a deal was struck to determine who will go full-term and who must return to the polls in three years.
The Coalition and Labor, which have a combined majority in the Senate have agreed to stick to convention, meaning the first six senators elected in the recent poll will get six-year terms.
Under the deal, Tasmanian Liberal senators Eric Abetz and Stephen Parry, Labor senators Anne Urquhart and Helen Polley and Greens senator Peter-Wilson will not go to the polls for another six years.
Senator Lambie said despite much talk about three and six-year terms, the process was simple.
“Tradition, precedent, conventions and section 13 of the Australian Constitution lay out the rules and guidelines, which give clear direction to the Senate when it is time to make a decision,” she said.
“So if the Senate follows tradition, precedent and section 13 of the Australian Constitution — I will be allocated a six-year term.”
The new-look Senate will mean Labor senator Lisa Singh will have to go to the polls in three years with Labor’s Left-faction powerbroker Carol Brown and Right-aligned Catryna Bilyk.
Newcomer Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam and his colleague Liberal senator David Bushby will have to recontest in three years as will the only newcomer senator from Tasmania, Jonathon Duniam.
Former Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim, who was the last senator to gain a seat, will also be back in campaign mode in three years.