2022 Tasmanian Senate Election

• Re-elected 1 – Jonno Duniam (Liberal)
• Re-elected 2 – Anne Urquhart (Labor)
• Re-elected 3 – Peter Whish-Wilson (Greens)
• Re-elected 4 – Helen Polley (Labor)
• Re-elected 5 – Wendy Askew (Liberal)
• Elected 6 – Tammy Tyrrell (Jacqui Lambie Newtwork)
• Defeated – Eric Abetz (Liberal)

Party Summary: Liberal (-1), Jacqui Lambie Network (+1)

Commentary on Result

The Tasmanian Senate election can be more complex to analyse than contests in other states. Tasmanian voters are much more likely to vote below-the-line for candidates, and this can have an impact on between candidate and between party preferences. The high rate of below the line voting comes from the long experience Tasmanian electors have with the state’s Hare-Clark electoral system. At Tasmanian state elections, candidates of the same party compete against each other for votes and there is no above the line option to vote for a party ticket.

The main below-the-line point of interest in 2022 was whether Liberal Senator Eric Abetz could ovecome his demotion to third on the Liberal ticket. Full detail of votes by candidate are not yet available, but intitial figures combined with a low total Liberal vote suggests Senator Abetz will be defeated.

Five sitting Senators will be re-elected. On the Liberal ticket, Jonno Duniam and Wendy Askew are re-elected and Eric Abetz defeated. Labor’s Anne Urquhart and Helen Polley are re-elected, as is Green Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

The new Senator certain to win election is Tammy Tyrrell of the Jacqui Lambie Network.

On a quirky side-note, the Liberal Party were only allocated two long-term Senate seats after the 2016 double dissolution election. The later disqualification of Jacqui Lambie on citizenship grounds re-arranged the elected members and Liberal Senator David Bushby received an upgrade from a short to a long term. Bushby later retired and was replaced by Wendy Askew. It is this re-arrangement of candidates rather than 2016 party vote that is responsible for there being three Liberal Senators facing election.

First Preferences Result Table

Enrolment – 402,331
Total Votes / Turnout – 372,973, 92.7% of enrolment
Informal Votes – 11,925 (3.2%)
Provisional Quota – 51,579
Below-the-line Vote – 22.7%
Last Update – Wednesday, 15 June 2022, 22:25