Controversial Queenslander Amanda Stoker has been out of parliament, with the final results for the state’s senate seats confirmed on Friday.
Senator Stoker was locked in a race in Queensland for the last two places with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
When the Australian Election Commission announced the federal election results on May 21 late Friday afternoon, Senator Hanson emerged as the winner.
Senator Stoker’s parliamentary future seemed sealed when she was relegated to the LNP’s third spot on the upper house ticket a year ago, making it highly unlikely that she would win a seat.
She seemed to have disappeared on election night, but the postal vote count and absences over the past few weeks had favored her.
However, it was not enough to take sixth place in Queensland from Senator Hanson.
The coalition suffered a nearly 4 percent blow to her in the state Senate race, while One Nation lost almost 3 percent of its vote in 2019.
Both Labor and the Greens had more than a 2 percent swing towards them, with the Greens picking up Penny Allman-Payne a seat from the LNP.
LNP senators James McGrath, and Matt Canavan and 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 later became Australia’s High Commissioner to Great Britain.
Senator Stoker, who served as assistant attorney general and assistant minister for women in Morrison’s government, is a conservative and often controversial figure. Weeks before the election, she attended an anti-abortion rally in Brisbane (along with One Nation Senator Canavan and Malcolm Roberts).
She was also an outspoken opponent of euthanasia, clashing with abuse survivor’s attorney Grace Tame.
Senator Stoker became another Morrison ministry member who could not keep his seat. Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Indigenous Secretary of State Ken Wyatt, Secretary of the Pacific Ocean Zed Seselja, and Special Secretary of State Ben Morton lost their seats in the May 21 election.
The Greens will maintain the balance of power in the new Senate alongside former Wallaby captain David Pocock elected as an independent ACT senator, the Jacqui Lambie Network (which gained another member this week), and One Nation.
The Senate’s total of 76 seats currently stands at 32 for the Coalition, 26 for Labour, 12 for the Greens, two for One Nation and the Jacqui Lambie Network, and one for Pocock.
The final seat in Victoria is a race between United Australia Party Ralph Babet and incumbent Liberal Senator Greg Mirabella. The AEC will confirm the Senate’s final results Monday morning.
The NSW results will also be announced on Monday.
Either the Jacqui Lambie Network, One Nation, or Mr. Pocock’s vote will be needed alongside the Greens for the government to get the 39 votes it takes to pass legislation in the Senate without the support of the Liberals.
