The Senate results have been finalised for all states and territories, nearly four weeks after the 3 May election.
Labor has increased its presence in the upper house, including 21-year-old Charlotte Walker, the youngest Senator in Australian history.
The Government will have a simpler path to passing legislation in the next term of Parliament.
Meanwhile, One Nation’s representation has doubled from two to four seats.
Here’s the final breakdown of the Senate.
The Senate
Australia’s Senate is also known as the upper house. Typically, a bill is introduced in the House of Representatives (the lower house), then reviewed in the upper house before it can become a law.
Senators represent a state or territory. Each state has 12 senators, while the territories have two.
At the election, we elected half of the state senators, whose terms are six years, and all of the territory senators (three year terms).
Counting
Counting for the Senate is complex.
A candidate or party needs a certain number of votes – a “quota” – to elect a Senator, based on a state’s population.
For instance, 712,405 votes are needed for a Senate quota in NSW, while Tasmania’s quota is 53,113.
The number of candidates a party can elect is based on how many quotas they fill.
The AEC has now finalised the distribution of preferences, concluding this process.
The Chamber
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Results
Labor has increased its representation in the Upper House by three seats, the Coalition lost three, and the Greens have held steady at 11.
South Australian Labor candidate Charlotte Walker will become the youngest Senator in Australia’s history, having celebrated her 21st birthday on election night.
Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer’s new party, Trumpet of Patriots, did not gain any seats.
One Nation
There will be double the number of One Nation Senators in the next Parliament compared to the last.
Previously, Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts were the party’s only Senators, both from Queensland.
However, the party secured swings in NSW and Western Australia, electing one Senator in each of these states.
This has only been announced in recent days, as the flow of preferences meant it wasn’t clear who would win the sixth spot in WA and NSW.
What it means
Labor has been re-elected with a larger majority in the lower house, meaning it doesn’t need extra support there.
However, it doesn’t have a majority in the upper house. The Senate composition means Labor needs support from either the Greens or the Coalition to pass legislation.
This is a simpler path than the last term of Parliament, when Labor needed additional crossbenchers – like Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock – to get legislation over the line.
