Incumbent Senators
- Katy Gallagher (Labor)
- David Pocock (Independent)
History
The Australian Capital Territory first elected Senators in 1975 at the election following the dismissal of the Whitlam government. At the first election, the Liberal Party and the ALP each won one seat each. The 1975 election was the only time that the Liberal Party outpolled the ALP. It is the only time the Liberals won over 40% (43.6%) and the only time the ALP won under 40% (37%). The first election also saw former Liberal Prime Minister and Victorian MP John Gorton poll over 11% as an independent.
At the first election, the Liberals elected John Knight while the ALP elected Susan Ryan. In the last three decades, these two parties have consistently split the two Senate seats between them, and in that time only six people, three Liberals and three Labor senators, have served in the ACT.
The 1983 election saw the ALP poll over 50% for the second and last time, reaching a record 55.3%. The same election was the first time that the Liberals ran Margaret Reid, who had taken office in 1981 after the death of John Knight. In 1988, Susan Ryan was succeeded by former ALP National Secretary Bob McMullan.
There have been a number of elections where minor parties have tried to break through and defeat the Liberal candidate. The first real shot came in 1990, when the Democrats polled 17.6% on primary votes, compared to 35.9% for the Liberals. Once you factor in preferences from the ALP, Nuclear Disarmament Party and the Greens, the Democrats get to over 29%, less than 4% away from winning the seat off the Liberals.
In 1993 the Democrats vote collapsed to 6.9%, although most of the vote went to the ALP and Greens, with the Liberal vote only rising slightly. In 1996 Bob McMullan moved into the House of Representatives and Kate Lundy was elected for the ALP. In 1998, the Democrats recovered to 16.7% and the Liberals fell below a quota on primary votes for the first time since 1984. This was partly due to the presence of One Nation, who polled almost 5%. Their preferences protected the Liberal candidate.
Reid resigned in 2003 and the Liberal Party chose former Chief Minister Gary Humphries to succeed her. In 2004, the Greens increased their vote from 5.3% to 16.4%, as the Democrats vote collapsed to 2.1%. While this was an impressive result for a minor party, a swing from the ALP to the Liberals made Humphries’ seat safe on a 37.9% primary vote.
In 2007, the Greens ran former MLA Kerrie Tucker for a second time in an attempt to defeat Humphries. She polled 21.5%. In 2010, the Greens made another attempt, running Lyn Hatfield-Dodds. She managed 22.9%, but failed to win the seat.
Liberal senator Gary Humphries was replaced at the head of the Liberal ticket in 2013 by Zed Seselja, who had led the party in the territory’s Legislative Assembly since 2007. At that year’s election, the Greens ran former GetUp national director Simon Sheikh, but Seselja retained the seat for the Liberal Party. The Greens and Labor collectively suffered a negative swing of over 10%, with most of that vote going to minor parties who had not previously run in the ACT, including the Sex Party, the Palmer United Party and Bullet Train For Australia.
Labor senator Kate Lundy stepped down in 2015, to be replaced by outgoing chief minister Katy Gallagher.
Gallagher was removed in 2018 when the High Court ruled that she had failed to clear section 44 of the constitution as she had not renounced her citizenship in time for nominations for the 2016 election. She was replaced by her running mate David Smith.
Gallagher returned to the Senate in 2019, and Smith shifted to the lower house seat of Bean.
After almost half a century of electing senators to represent the ACT, the partisan balance was finally disturbed in 2022, when Liberal senator Zed Seselja lost his seat to independent candidate David Pocock.
| Group | Votes | % | Swing | Quota |
| Labor | 95,184 | 33.4 | -5.9 | 1.0012 |
| Liberal | 70,739 | 24.8 | -7.6 | 0.7440 |
| David Pocock | 60,406 | 21.2 | +21.2 | 0.6354 |
| Greens | 29,360 | 10.3 | -7.4 | 0.3088 |
| Kim for Canberra | 12,622 | 4.4 | +4.4 | 0.1328 |
| United Australia | 6,112 | 2.1 | -0.2 | 0.0643 |
| Legalise Cannabis | 4,516 | 1.6 | +1.6 | 0.0475 |
| Animal Justice | 1,889 | 0.7 | +0.7 | 0.0199 |
| Sustainable Australia | 1,638 | 0.6 | -1.1 | 0.0172 |
| Informed Medical Options | 1,458 | 0.5 | +0.5 | 0.0153 |
| Others | 1,293 | 0.5 | 0.0136 | |
| Informal | 5,091 | 1.8 |
Preference flows
Labor won the first seat with just slightly over a quota of primary votes.
We fast forward to the final seven candidates competing for the second seat:
- Zed Seselja (LIB) – 0.7440 quotas
- David Pocock (IND) – 0.6491
- Tjanara Goreng Goreng (GRN) – 0.3152
- Kim Rubenstein (IND) – 0.1388
- James Savoulidis (UAP) – 0.0737
- Andrew Katelaris (LGC) – 0.0536
- Yana del Valle (AJP) – 0.0249
AJP preferences slightly helped Pocock and the Greens:
- Seselja (LIB) – 0.7461
- Pocock (IND) – 0.6533
- Goreng Goreng (GRN) – 0.3223
- Rubenstein (IND) – 0.1416
- Savoulidis (UAP) – 0.0753
- Katelaris (LGC) – 0.0601
Legalise Cannabis preferences flowed strongest to the Greens and Pocock:
- Seselja (LIB) – 0.7545
- Pocock (IND) – 0.6689
- Goreng Goreng (GRN) – 0.3400
- Rubenstein (IND) – 0.1477
- Savoulidis (UAP) – 0.0855
UAP preferences flowed more strongly to Seselja, but not by much more than they flowed to Pocock:
- Seselja (LIB) – 0.7932
- Pocock (IND) – 0.6921
- Goreng Goreng (GRN) – 0.3460
- Rubenstein (IND) – 0.1593
Rubenstein preferences flowed very strongly to Pocock, bringing him close to overtaking Seselja:
- Seselja (LIB) – 0.8082
- Pocock (IND) – 0.7952
- Goreng Goreng (GRN) – 0.3807
Greens preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Pocock, electing him over Seselja:
- Pocock (IND) – 1.0899
- Seselja (LIB) – 0.8571
- A – James Holgate (Sustainable Australia)
- B – David Pocock (Independent)
- C – Robyn Soxsmith (Animal Justice)
- D – Katy Gallagher (Labor)
- E – Jacob Vadakkedathu (Liberal)
- F – Elise Searson-Prakaash (HEART)
- G – Christina Hobbs (Greens)
Assessment
The ACT leans strongly to the left and is a difficult area for the Liberal Party, but Pocock’s election relied on a remarkably poor result for the Liberal Party. Pocock’s seat is very marginal. It will be interesting to see whether Pocock can further chip into Liberal support at the next election now that he has the benefit of incumbency.
The two-member system behaves quite differently from Senate contests in the states. In a sense, the contest more resembles a single-member electorate contest for the House of Representatives, and the personality of individual candidates matters more.
Other independents elected in the House have traditionally built up their support as incumbents and turned a slim margin into something much more solid. The question is whether Pocock can do the same in the ACT.
It’s also worth noting that Labor’s hold on their seat may not be as solid as it once appeared. When the Greens first made an attempt to win the second ACT seat in the mid-2000s, the Labor primary vote was substantially higher. Gallagher managed just over a quota in 2022. If Labor’s primary vote keeps dropping further, particularly if Pocock wins over Labor voters, it’s possible a swing to the right could see the Liberal Party take a seat off Labor, not Pocock.
I sense David Pocock will retain his seat next election because of the sophomore surge and name recognition. Dutton has a really bad rap within the APS as a Health Minister and a Home Affairs Minister, moreso than other ministers, Labor or LNP. The Liberals would be better off focusing on winning/retaining three seats in the states. They do have a shot in QLD and VIC at picking up a third seat out of the six up for election.
The ACT Libs should not preselect Zed Seselja. His hard right politics won’t appeal to an affluent and progressive electorate. He’s also a “seat shopper” as he tried to get a NSW senate seat and ACT voters will question his loyalty. It’s best they preselect new blood.
I believe Labor was more worried about losing than the Liberals were in 2022 because of imminent three horse race where:
– Pocock could split the vote and reduce Labor’s primary.
– Greens and other minor party voters could send their preferences to Pocock instead of Labor.
This and NT will only be two seats next election. I’m going to say this will be
1 Pocock
1 Labor
not sure if Pocock will outpoll Labor but should be re-elected maybe a slightly better result for Pocock than in 2022.
atm id say libs within a chance of retaking the senate spot but would have to analyse the 2022 results and the upcoming act election results before making a definite prediction
Pocock will likely be elected and outpoll Labor if he and the libs strip enough votes off Labor who barely made a quota last time libs could swap out with lab
Based on ACT election, seeing a status quo result.
It wouldn’t take much to shift the Labor seat to liberal especially if the left vote solidifies behind pocock
Pocock has been building a strong profile as an active ACT Senator & on 70% of issues important to Green voters voting with them. Enough Green voters will vote tactically for Pocock to ensure he holds his seat. Liberal candidate is invisible & has no profile. Recent ACT election suggested that ACT voters still regard the local Liberals with deep suspicion & Peter Dutton is doing nothing to dissolve that suspicion.
David Pocock is gonna draw a heap of votes away from the minor partiesand candidates and likely Labor as well. The Liberals might just be able to topple Gallagher instead. Pocock will be reflected i have no doubt about that.
@John Labor wouldn’t lose a Senate spot in the ACT. It’s the ACT. Similarly the NT will always be both major parties.
The ACT is not Tealish due to being dominated by Public servents it is somewhat economically left-wing maybe not to the extent as Blaxland, Watson, Calwell or Scullin but nevertherless strong for the Centre Left, hence the Labor party cannot be knocked out of the 2CP in any ACT Lower house seat.
I’ve done the maths and it’s entirely possible for it to happen
@John Labor’s vote is too high for that to happen and I think David Pocock only won because he captured the centrist vote.
If the Liberal vote increases then Pocock will be defeated. It is like saying the Greens can win more seats than Labor in the ACT Legislative assembly
It is possible that Greens vote will drop as their voters vote tactically and also, given they’ll come fourth at best.
The lead Liberal candidate seems like a political outsider without much local profile, unlike the last two or three Liberal senators. The last two Liberal senators were former ACT opposition leaders and one of them, Gary Humphries, was a Chief Minister.
I feel that Pocock may outpoll Gallagher, but they will both be re-elected comfortably
The lead Liberal candidate, Jacob Vadakkedathu, has a cloud hanging over him. There’s discontent within the ranks about his low-profile and also there’s allegations of branch-stacking. ABC reports that the Canberra Liberals will vote in early February on his future as the lead candidate.
Pocock will easily be relected there is an outside chance the Libs could snag the second spot from Gallagher
@Darth Vader not a chance unfortunately.
IMO the ACT is ideologically left wing for the most part, but largely respects the orthodoxy on foreign policy and Defence, and also won’t go much more economically left than social democracy. This I think will largely keep them with Labor, especially when Labor are in opposition, and not further left than that. The Greens’ left populism will do worse here than earlier incarnations of the party, and I don’t even think they’d be a lock for a seat if it was magnitude 4 (IIRC on 2022 results Labor’s 2nd candidate would have won the 4th seat if there were 4).
Pocock basically is a Richard Di Natale era Green but he’s made overtures to be more pro business to soak up enough of the Liberal base.
Seeing a status quo result
Greens have preselected Christina Hobbs, their 2016 Senate candidate. From memory last time she was preselected before the senate reforms that made the ACT senate seat a lot less winnable for Greens. A surprisingly strong choice who definitely sits on the more moderate/teal side of the party (she runs a superannuation fund).
Don’t see her upsetting the very likely Pocock/Gallagher result. May be ground work for running again when the Senate magnitude increases. I’m reminded though of when recently defeated MLC Sue Pennicuik ran for Goldstein in 2019 at the last minute, or Andrew Bartlett for Clayfield at QLD 2020 – both strong candidates on paper, and paper candidates.
I am not sure all the wishful thinking in the Tallyroom will get the Libs a spot back here
it appears the ACT Liberals have voted to keep their lead Senate candidate in the position amid claims of branch stacking after surviving a motion calling for him to be disendorsed.
It’s quite possible that Dutton becomes Prime Minister but ends up with something of a poisoned chalice due to the Coalition’s significant Senate losses in 2022.
Assuming that the Peter Dutton can find a way to work with Ralph Babet, Pauline Hanson and Tammy Tyrrell, the “Right-bloc” starts a seat behind parity due to the Coalition losing its third seat in WA to Fatima Payman.
Even if the Coalition could replicate its relatively strong result at the 2019 election (ie. an extra seat in Queensland plus regaining its ACT seat), the “Left-bloc” of Labor, Greens and David Pocock would still have 38 seats and enough to block any legislation.
So the Coalition’s options are:
– Work with one of David Pocock or Fatima Payman if at all possible
– Or hope that Labor or Greens retain less than 3 seats in any of the states outside of Queensland, which is a tall order even on the current polling
Either way, that would still require dealing with all of JLN/PHON/UAP which could be tricky.
@angas that’s actually wrong. If the libs took the act seat the left block if you include Thorpe because you know “crazy”. They would only have 37. Labor had 26 greens had 12 + pocock = 39 – Payman and Gallagher = 37. Pocock can probably also be reasoned with and negotiate for a vote. Hanson and Babet can also reliably relied upon to pass legislation. There also the possibility the libs can get back the 3rd seat in Tasmania. It will only be a matter of time before libs get back paymans seat in 2028. Also babet is no longer uap since that party has been deregistered.
Also it’s also in part to the losses of the cross bench in SA.
@John
Yeah I suppose if you remove Payman as a sure vote against the Coalition, then Labor + Greens + Thorpe will be either 36 or 37 depending on if Gallagher loses her seat. So there’d be just enough room to move without relying on every single crossbencher.
I agree that Hanson, Babet and Malcolm Roberts will be reliable enough, so mainly a matter of dealing with Tyrrell, Payman and Lambie if she gets in.
Pocock does seem like he’ll consider things on their merit regardless of who’s in power, but I believe he’d be more ideologically opposed on certain issues like nuclear.
Outside of Queensland, Tasmania definitely seems like the place where the Coalition can pick up an extra seat, either at the expense of Lambie or Labor’s 2nd. I think any of the other states would be too difficult. Maybe the Greens could be at risk in NSW or SA, but it’s hard to tell.
Now that the Libs seem fully determined to drive their ACT vote down to subterranean levels by promising to fire thousands of Canberrans and force many of the rest to stop working remotely, and just today announcing that he would leave the Lodge empty and live in Sydney because “lol Canberra sucks”, I think it’s probably reasonably likely the Libs don’t even finish top 2 on primary here.
@sean most of those people probably already vote labor or greens anyway
There’s honestly plenty of people who don’t habitually vote for Labor or the Greens, who nonetheless live in Canberra and like Canberra and have a stake here, and don’t take particularly well to attacks on the local Canberra community and its economy.
The only thing I know about Jacob Vadakkedathu is that the Liberals tried and failed to reverse his preselection (not for any controversies as far as I’m aware) and he came 4th of 5 candidates in Yerrabi.
Zed slightly underperformed the Liberals lower house vote but with no Pocock in the lower house I can’t rule out that Zed still had a personal vote. I’m not getting the sense Liberals are in any real contention to get the seat back.
Easy status quo result, Pocock may even outpoll Gallagher but nobody else will even get close (I’ve already commented on Greens who have a surprisingly strong candidate)
Probably agree BNJ, the Liberal vote in the ACT (both Senate and at territory elections) has continued to steadily decline over the years. I think their vote will increase in 2025 (coming off a low point at 25%) but I doubt it will be much, certainly not above 30% so Pocock and Labor should be safe to win a seat each.
After today I’m really not sure the Lib vote will go up in the ACT…
@Sean, well said. Only one in four people in the ACT workforce are employed in the APS, so Canberra is less of a “company town” than it used to be. It is true that some of that remaining 75% of the workforce are working for private firms where the Federal or ACT governments are the customer.
But every Canberran knows that the flow-on effects of being the capital city are significant. During a Parliamentary sitting week, the hotels, restaurants and taxi/Uber drivers get a boost. Ditto for the visit from any foreign leader, or government-related conferences.
So even for those Canberrans who think balancing the books is really important (and I’m one of them), the idea that doing so is as easy as just sinking the boot into Canberra and ripping 40,000 jobs out is seen as a thought bubble.
It’s really lazy thinking, based on the idea that doing so will play well elsewhere. Remember that many of those public servants were the ones helping to get the COVID-19 vaccines distributed across the nation. Was it perfectly done? No. Was it a lot better than many other countries managed it? Yes.
And there are many people who are immensely frustrated at both the lazy, entitled incompetence of the ACT government, and the fact that the local Liberals just can’t seem to get their act together. It’s incredibly bad for democracy for any party of any flavour to be in power for that long.
I was impressed with Elizabeth Lee, who was in line with the moderate Liberal politicians who ran the ACT in the 1990’s. But she got rolled, not least in the days leading up to the vote, the conservatives wanted to mouth off.
After over 20 years out of power, you would think that they would learn their lesson, but they didn’t.
I am now convinced that the only way a different party will win power in the ACT is for the Liberal to split into two – the moderate version could pick up 35-40% of the vote, and the conservative wing could get around 10%. But because the conservative tail wags the moderate dog, centrist voters don’t take the risk in big enough numbers to move the dial far enough.