Controversial senator ousted as Qld vote is confirmed
Senator Amanda Stoker has lost her run for re-election. Photo: ABC
Controversial Queenslander Amanda Stoker is out of parliament, with the final results for the state’s senate seats confirmed on Friday.
Senator Stoker had been locked in a race for the final two Queensland spots with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
When the Australian Electoral Commission officially called the results from the May 21 federal election late on Friday afternoon, Senator Hanson emerged the victor.
Tweet from @AusElectoralCom
Senator Stoker’s parliamentary future appeared sealed when she was relegated to the LNP’s third spot on the upper house ticket a year ago – making her highly unlikely to win a spot.
She looked gone on election night, but counting of postal and absentee votes in recent weeks had swung in her favour.
It wasn’t enough, however, to take the sixth Queensland spot from Senator Hanson.
The Coalition suffered an almost 4 per cent swing against it in the state’s Senate race, while One Nation lost almost 3 per cent of its 2019 vote.
Both Labor and the Greens had a more than 2 per cent swing towards them, with the Greens Penny Allman-Payne picking up a seat off the LNP.
LNP senators James McGrath and Matt Canavan, as well as Labor senators Murray Watt and Anthony Chisholm were also re-elected.
Senator Hanson was elected to the upper house in 2016, with party colleague Malcolm Roberts winning a seat in 2019.
Senator Stoker was appointed to the upper house in 2018, selected to fill the vacancy left by George Brandis, who went on to be Australia’s high commissioner to Britain.
Senator Stoker, who was assistant attorney-general and assistant minister for women in the Morrison government, is a conservative and often controversial figure. Weeks before the election she attended an anti-abortion rally in Brisbane (along with Senator Canavan and One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts).
She has also been a vocal opponent of euthanasia, and has clashed with abuse survivor advocate Grace Tame.
Senator Stoker becomes another member of the Morrison government’s ministry who failed to retain their seat. Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Indigenous minister Ken Wyatt, Pacific minister Zed Seselja and special minister for state Ben Morton all lost their seats at May 21 election.
The Greens will hold the balance of power in the new Senate, alongside former Wallaby captain David Pocock who has been elected as an independent ACT Senator, the Jacqui Lambie Network (which gained another member this week) and One Nation.
The tally of the Senate’s 76 seats currently sits at 32 to the Coalition, 26 to Labor, 12 to the Greens, two to both One Nation and the Jacqui Lambie Network and one to Mr Pocock.
The final seat in Victoria is a race between the United Australia Party’s Ralph Babet and incumbent Liberal senator Greg Mirabella. The AEC said will confirm the state’s final Senate results on Monday morning.
NSW results will also be declared on Monday.
Either the Jacqui Lambie Network, One Nation or Mr Pocock’s vote will be needed alongside the Greens for the government to reach the 39 votes necessary to pass legislation in the Senate without the support of the Liberals.
-with AAP