One Nation wins two upper houseseats in the NSW Parliament

By Lisa Visentin

April 15,2019 — 12.33pm

Of the 21 seats up for grabs at the March 23 election, theCoalition have picked up eight seats, Labor seven, the Greens two seats,Shooters, Fishers and Farmers one seat, One Nation two seats, and the AnimalJustice Party one seat.

The final make up of the Legislative Council will now see acrossbench of 11 MPs, while the Coalition will have 17 seats, and Labor will14.

One Nation has secured a second seat in theNSW Legislative Council, as the final three seats of 21 upper house places weredecided on preferences.

Labor and the Animal Justice Party also pickedup another seat each after the final distribution of preferences on Monday,more than three weeks after the state election.

Of the 21 seats up for grabs at the March 23election, the Coalition have picked up eight seats, Labor seven, the Greens twoseats, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers one seat, One Nation two seats, and theAnimal Justice Party one seat.

The finalmake up of the Legislative Council will now see a crossbench of 11 MPs, whilethe Coalition will have 17 seats, and Labor will 14.

Former federal Senator David Leyonhjelm, thelead candidate for Liberal Democrats narrowly missed out on a seat, as didanti-lockout law party Keep Sydney Open. The Christian Democrats, who were alsoin the mix for the final three seats, also missed out.

Mr Leyonhjelm prematurely declared himself elected just three daysafter election day when, with just six per cent of the upper house votecounted, he appeared to be a front runner.

But as the count entered the final week, it becameapparent that preferences would decide his fate as he, Labor, the ChristianDemocrats, Animal Justice Party and Keep Sydney Open fought it out for thefinal three seats.

Rod Roberts, One Nation's second elected candidate, will join hisparty leader Mark Latham on the cross bench after securing the 21st and finalseat.

Mr Roberts, a retired detective sargent with the NSW Police, saidhe was “nervous and excited” about entering politics.

He said his policing experience would shape his approach tonegotiating the passage of legislation with the other parties.

“As a detective, I always looked for evidencebased stuff, and again in Parliament I think I will look for evidence,” MrRoberts said.

“If either party can produce evidence to us to support their causeor policy, then I think we should pay due attention to it.”

Labor upper house member Adam Searle said the outcome was a “good,solid result for Labor” in light of the party’s performance in the lower house,which saw them only claim an extra two seats from the government.

“The position of the government has been considerably weakenedcompared to earlier parliaments,” Mr Searle said.

“Given the shape of the upper house, the government now has anadditional responsibility to work collaboratively across the whole parliament.”

The Berejiklian government will now need five extra votesin order to pass legislation through the Legislatiive Council. In the lastParliament they needed only two votes.