The Coalition will need to negotiate with minor parties in the Senate as it fails to gain a majority in the upper house

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Derryn Hinch, Fraser Anning, Brian Burston and the Liberal Democrats senator, Duncan Spender, have all lost their Senate seats but One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts is still in with a chance in Queensland.

The best-case scenario for the Coalition could see it pick up an extra three seats in the Senate, to give the government 34 seats, five short of the 39 needed to pass legislation. Prior to the election, the Coalition had 31 senators.

Labor could return enough senators to fill 26 Senate positions while the Greens are expected to retain its status quo of nine senators.

This would mean neither Labor nor the Coalition will have an outright majority in the Senate, meaning both parties will require negotiations with minor parties to pass or block legislation.

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The government would need to negotiation with minor party senators. Those who were not up for re-election but are already in the Senate include Australian Conservatives’ Cory Bernardi, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Centre Alliance.

There are 76 senate positions in parliament, 12 from each state and two each from the ACT and Northern Territory but only 40 positions were up for re-election.

In NSW, Nationals senator Perin Davey looks likely to win against predictions and following a last minute fight with the Liberal party after NSW senator Jim Molan urged supporters to ignore Coalition voting instructions to give him their first preference.

Molan established the personal campaign after his party bumped him down the ticket to the unwinnable fourth spot. But the conservative senator failed to return to the Senate.

While Labor’s Lisa Singh successfully campaigned below the line in 2016 in Tasmania, she also failed to return to the Senate.

However, former United Australia Party senator Jacqui Lambie is on track to win a seat back in the senate for Tasmania, after she was made ineligible as a result of her dual citizenship.

In South Australia, the vote for Centre Alliance collapsed, with a drop in the primary vote of 19% on the 2016 high under the leadership of Nick Xenophon, while Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has again defied predictions to be returned.

Both Labor and the Liberals gained a swing in South Australia as a result of the Centre Alliance collapse.

In Queensland, the Senate vote reflected the lower house vote with a swing to the Liberal party and away from Labor.

Greens senator Larissa Waters looks likely to win, while Roberts and Labor senator Chris Ketter are ahead for the final two senator positions.