Independent Candidate – Senate
Theme: Big spending on infrastructure, especially water
Date: 21st May, 2022

Facing Election: There are three Coalition, two Labor and one Green positions facing election in 2022. These positions are the six-year terms allocated after 2016 double dissolution election. The list of Senators facing election is set out down the page.

The Coalition has elected three Senators at eight of the 10 half-Senate elections since 1990. The Coalition also elected five Senators at the 2016 double dissolution election. The two half-Senate elections where the Coalition missed out on a third seat were 2013 and 2016 when minor parties won the final seat under the now abolished group voting ticket preference system. In 2010 the Coalition vote feel to 2.41 quotas, resulting in Coalition preferences helping elect John Madigan of the DLP. In 2013, the Coalition polled 2.81 quotas, but a complex preference ‘harvesting’ operation saw Liberal Senator Judith Troeth defeated by Ricky Muir of the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party, despite his party polling just 0.51% of the vote or under 0.04 of a quota. Muir’s victory despite polling less than one-twentieth of the surplus Coalition vote led directly to the 2016 Senate reforms. Under the new system in 2019, the Coalition polled 35.9% of the vote in 2019, 2.51 quotas, enough to stay ahead of competitors in the race for the final seat. Any decline in Coalition support in 2022 would put the Coalition’s third Senate seat at risk.