Legislative Council – NSW 2023

History
The Legislative Council was directly elected for the first time in 1978. Since then the Council has been elected by a system of proportional representation, with the balance of power held by a variety of minor parties.

Prior to 1995, the Legislative Council was elected one-third at a time, with 15 seats up for election at each lower house election. No minor parties were elected at the 1978 election, but at the next four elections the Christian Democratic Party (under their former name of Call to Australia) won a seat, and at three of these elections the Democrats also won a seat.

The 1995 and 1999 elections produced results with a large number of minor parties winning seats. In 1995, single seats were won by the Christian Democratic Party, the Greens, the Democrats, the Shooters and A Better Future for our Children. In 1999, a seat was won by the CDP, Democrats, Greens, One Nation, Unity, Outdoor Recreation Party and Reform the Legal System.

Following the 1999 election result, the electoral system was changed to abolish ticket voting and allow individual voters to cast preferences for whole parties above the line.

At the 2003 election, the balance changed markedly, with the sole Christian Democrat and Shooters MLCs both re-elected, as well as the sitting Greens MLC. The Greens gained an extra seat.

In 2007, the same result was produced, with the two minor right-wing parties each winning a single seat in addition to the seat they won in 2003, while the Greens won two seats.

In 2011, the CDP and the Shooters and Fishers each maintained one seat, while the Greens won three seats (up from two in 2003 and 2007), producing a total crossbench of five Greens, two Christian Democrats and two Shooters and Fishers.

The Animal Justice Party won their first seat in 2015. The Greens retained the two seats they had won in 2007, while the Shooters and Fishers and Christian Democrats each retained their one seat up for election.

In 2019, Animal Justice won a second seat. The Greens retained two of their three seats. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers retained one seat, but the Christian Democrats lost their seat – the first election since 1978 that saw Fred Nile’s party fail to win a seat.

One Nation also returned to the upper house, winning two seats.

During this time, there were various results for the major parties. Labor won a majority of seats in 1978 and 1981, but the Labor representation gradually dropped from 9 to 6 from 1978 to 1991. The Coalition won six seats in 1978 and five in 1981, and then seven in 1984, 1988 and 1991.

In 1995, Labor and the Coalition each won eight seats out of 21 elected. Labor again won eight in 1999, but the Coalition dropped to six seats.

Following the change in the electoral system, both major parties gained seats in 2003. Labor’s seat count peaked at ten, with the Coalition increasing to seven.

Labor won nine in 2007, and the Coalition won eight. In 2011, Labor’s vote collapsed, and they only managed to win five seats, while the Coalition won eleven.

Labor partly recovered in 2015, winning seven seats. The Coalition won nine seats.

Labor again won seven seats in 2019 (up two from their 2011 result), while the Coalition retained eight seats, three down from 2011.

Electoral system
The New South Wales Legislative Council is elected using a system of proportional representation, with all MLCs elected to represent the entire state.

There are 42 members of the Legislative Council, with 21 elected at each election for two terms. With such a large number of members elected as a single electorate, the quota is very low at 4.55%.

Up to the 1999 election, the upper house was elected with a 'ticket voting' system similar to that used in the Senate. This led to a situation where one third of seats were won by minor parties, some of whom won a very small vote.

Prior to the 2003 election, the system was reformed to abolish ticket voting. Under the current system, voters can vote 'above the line', but their vote will only flow to candidates of parties who have directly received a preference from that voter.

In practice this has significantly reduced the impact of preferences, but they can still come into play for the final seat.

At the last three elections, the first twenty seats went to candidates in the top 21 on primary votes, but one seat went to a candidate not ranked in the top 21 on primary votes. Pauline Hanson missed out in 2011 despite ranking 20th on primary votes, being overtaken by the Nationals and the Greens. In 2015, Peter Jones of the No Land Tax party narrowly outpolled the Animal Justice Party on primary votes, but was overtaken for the final seat.

In 2019, the Animal Justice Party was outpolled by both the Christian Democratic Party and the Liberal Democrats, but not only managed to overtake both of them, but managed to overtake the second One Nation candidate to win the twentieth seat.

Sitting MLCs

Term expires 2023
Term expires 2027
Lou Amato (Liberal), since 2015 Mark Banasiak (Shooters, Fishers & Farmers), since 2019
Scott Barrett (Nationals), since 20221 Abigail Boyd (Greens), since 2019
Robert Borsak (Shooters, Fishers & Farmers), since 2010 Mark Buttigieg (Labor), since 2019
Cate Faehrmann (Greens), since 2018 Catherine Cusack (Liberal), since 2003
Scott Farlow (Liberal), since 2015 Anthony D'Adam (Labor), since 2019
Justin Field (Independent), since 20162 Greg Donnelly (Labor), since 2005
Ben Franklin (Nationals), since 20153 Wes Fang (Nationals), since 2017
John Graham (Labor), since 2016 Sam Farraway (Nationals), since 20198
Courtney Houssos (Labor), since 2015 Sue Higginson (Greens), since 20229
Rose Jackson (Labor), since 2019<4/td> Emma Hurst (Animal Justice), since 2019
Shayne Mallard (Liberal), since 2015 Mark Latham (One Nation), since 2019
Matthew Mason-Cox  (Liberal), since 2006 Natasha Maclaren-Jones (Liberal), since 2011
Shaoquett Moselmane (Labor), since 2009 Taylor Martin (Liberal), since 2017
Fred Nile  (Independent), since 19815 Sarah Mitchell (Nationals), since 2011
Mark Pearson (Animal Justice), since 2015 Daniel Mookhey (Labor), since 2015
Peter Poulos (Liberal), since 20216 Tara Moriarty (Labor), since 2019
Chris Rath (Liberal), since 20227 Peter Primrose (Labor), since 1996
Adam Searle (Labor), since 2011 Rod Roberts (One Nation), since 2019
Walt Secord (Labor), since 2011 Penny Sharpe (Labor), since 2005
Bronnie Taylor (Nationals), since 2015 Damien Tudehope (Liberal), since 2019
Mick Veitch (Labor), since 2007 Natalie Ward (Liberal), since 2017

1Scott Barrett was appointed on 24 February 2022 to replace Trevor Khan, who resigned on 06 January 2022
2Justin Field was appointed as a member of the Greens, but resigned from the Greens in April 2019.
3Ben Franklin resigned from the Legislative Council in 2019 to run for the seat of Ballina. He was subsequently appointed to fill the same vacancy following the election.
4Rose Jackson was appointed on 8 May 2019 to replace Lynda Voltz, who had resigned to run for the seat of Auburn.
5Fred Nile was elected as a member of the Christian Democratic Party, but that party was dissolved in March 2022.
6Peter Poulos was appointed on 06 May 2021 to replace John Ajaka, who resigned on 31 March 2021.
7Chris Rath was appointed on 24 March 2022 to replace Don Harwin, who resigned on 22 March 2022.
8Sam Farraway was appointed on 17 October 2019 to replace Niall Blair, who resigned on 16 October 2019.
9Sue Higginson was appointed on 12 May 2022 to replace David Shoebridge, who resigned on 11 April 2022.

2019 result

Group Votes % Swing Quota Seats won
Liberal/Nationals 1,549,751 34.8 -7.8 7.660 8
Labor 1,321,449 29.7 -1.4 6.531 7
Greens 432,999 9.7 -0.2 2.140 2
One Nation 306,933 6.9 +6.9 1.517 2
Shooters, Fishers & Farmers 246,477 5.5 +1.6 1.218 1
Christian Democratic Party 101,328 2.3 -0.6 0.501 0
Liberal Democrats 96,999 2.2 +2.2 0.479 0
Animal Justice Party 86,713 1.9 +0.2 0.429 1
Keep Sydney Open 81,508 1.8 +1.8 0.403 0
Sustainable Australia 65,102 1.5 +1.5 0.322 0
Voluntary Euthanasia Party 46,971 1.1 +0.1 0.232 0
Others 114,916 2.6
Informal 301,681 6.3

On primary votes, the Coalition gained seven seats, Labor six, Greens two, and one seat each for One Nation and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers.

The eighth Coalition candidate (Nationals MLC Wes Fang) was clearly in the lead for the eighteenth seat. For the remaining three seats, there were five candidates between 0.4 and 0.6 quotas: the seventh Labor candidate, the second One Nation candidate, and the lead candidates for the Christian Democratic Party, Liberal Democrats, Animal Justice Party and Keep Sydney Open.

At count 333, when there was no more than one candidate left in each group, the leading candidates stood at:

  • Wes Fang (NAT) - 0.6565 quotas
  • Mark Buttigieg (ALP) - 0.5263
  • Paul Green (CDP) - 0.5061
  • Rod Roberts (ON) - 0.5044
  • David Leyonhjelm (AJP) - 0.4837
  • Emma Hurst (AJP) - 0.4372
  • Tyson Koh (KSO) - 0.4077

The chart at the end of this section shows how these candidates' votes shifted in the final rounds of counting.

Labor quickly widened the gap from the rest of the gap, with a number of left-wing minor parties being knocked out and their preferences favouring Labor, but also Animal Justice. The third Greens candidate and Voluntary Euthanasia boosted both parties.

Preferences from Sustainable Australia flowed most strongly to Animal Justice, pushing them ahead of the Liberal Democrats and very close to One Nation and the Christian Democrats, with those three parties now competing for the final two seats. Sustainable Australia preferences were also helpful to Labor.

Keep Sydney Open was then excluded, with their preferences most strongly boosting Labor, but also pushing Animal Justice ahead of One Nation and the CDP.

Liberal Democrats preferences were not as helpful to the other minor right-wing parties as preferences from left-wing parties had been to the leading left candidates, and mostly favoured the Nationals candidate who was clearly on track to win. This left sitting Christian Democrat MLC Paul Green 5408 votes short of second One Nation candidate Rod Roberts for the final seat.

Candidates
Sitting MLCs Shaoquett Moselmane, Adam Searle, Walt Secord, Mick Veitch (Labor), Mark Pearson (Animal Justice) and Justin Field are not running for re-election.

For most groups, only the first candidate is listed. The first three Greens and One Nation candidates are listed. The first eleven Coalition and Labor candidates are listed. Most groups ran at least 15 candidates. There are six groups that ran less than 15 candidates and thus don't have an above-the-line box - they are marked on the list.

  • J - John Ruddick (Liberal Democrats)
  • K - Oscar Grenfell (Independent) - No ATL box
  • L - Khalil Khay (Public Education Party)
  • M - Michael O'Neill (Informed Medical Options)
  • N - Robert Borsak (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers)
  • O - Jeremy Buckingham (Legalise Cannabis)
  • P - Danny Lim (Independent) - No ATL box
  • Ungrouped
      • Stefan Prasad
      • Colleen Fuller
      • Warren Grzic
      • Van Huynh
      • Archie Lea
      • Michelle Martin
      • Lee Howe
      • Mick Allen
      • R Cheetham
      • Guitang Lu
      • George Potkonyak

Assessment
The current Legislative Council consists of 22 members of parties of the right - 17 Coalition, 2 One Nation, 2 Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, and one Christian Democrat (technically now an independent). It also included 20 members of the left - 14 Labor, 3 Greens, 2 Animal Justice and one ex-Greens independent.

If polling reveals a shift to the left, it is quite plausible that the left could at least win half the seats, or possibly reach up to 22.

It is worth noting that the Coalition's relationship with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers is not very constructive, and so this should not be taken as a solid pro-government majority, but does give a sense of ideological trends. A Council with the Greens, Animal Justice and potentially other centre-left crossbenchers in the balance of power could look quite different, particularly if it is paired with a Labor government.

The Coalition won nine seats in 2015 and eight in 2019, so a repeat of the last election would see them lose a seat. This was offset by an increase in the number of right-wing minor parties, with the Christian Democrats losing one seat and One Nation winning two, so the last election did not change the 22-20 political divide.

The Greens currently only hold three seats but are only defending one. They should have no trouble winning back the seat they lost when Justin Field quit the party after the 2019 election, and may have some chance of winning a third seat, as they did in 2011.

One Nation are not defending any seats. They should win one seat, and could potentially win a second.

Animal Justice have a good chance of retaining their seat, but their vote is not high enough for that seat to be safe. Legalise Cannabis also has a real shot at winning a seat, and could potentially win that third left crossbench seat rather than the AJP.

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers should have a high enough vote to retain their seat but don't usually do well enough to be competitive for a second.

Results of the 2019 NSW Legislative Council election for the five highest-polling tickets

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187 COMMENTS

  1. The last time latham realy made the news was with his attack on labor mp anna wotson allowed buy the terible upper house labor health chair Gregg donnelly who is arguably the most socialy conservative nsw upper house mp and hopefuly the shoppies union will not re select him foor 2023 apart from perhaps tania davies he is very anti abortion and anti woman rights

  2. So rath replaces poulos in third spot on liberal ticket he was going to be lower poulos being a close allie of matt kean being dumped would have ben imbarasing

  3. According to the NSW parliament website, Latham resigned on 2 March, and Maclaren-Jones has not resigned yet.

  4. it is a little suprising that dubo cowncilor and close minns allie Stephin lawrence is in the hard to winn sevin spot on labor ticket labor have not won sevin in a long time i think he was ment to be third but the soft left joined with the health survice union got up Cameron murphy taking a reajonal spot desbite living in east hills aparently he is a barister but if larwence does not get electid the only country labor upper house mp will be Emily suvaal desbite the claim labor will now have three winable spots

  5. it seems mick Vietsch was not a very effective mp or shadow agriculture spokesman his suporters argued he should get the spot because he is a country member and did a lot of travel in country seats but given the premier and the nats were praising maybi the former roads minister was right when he said he did not give the government much trouble in his portfoleo and was not overly effective usually if your effective the government does not complain about a shadow minister getting dumped he had little to criticize the nats over there record in thecountry aerias he is running at number nine but labor will have to find a different minister if they winn maybi primrose and donnely can follow him labor needs to get rid of its bad upper house members

  6. hopefuly the shoppies will not re preselect Gregg donnelly when he term exbires next election in 2023 he has been in parliament since 2005 and apart from campaign against womans rights and abortion and reajonal health the only time he was in the news was when he allowed mark latham to attack labor wip Anna wotson with out intervening and attacking bronie tayler suprised the shoppies continue to give him a seat but they claim they have moved on from there focus on moral ishues

  7. suprised mclaron jones was chosen of the existing femqale upper house mps to recontest must have been a factional deal with Hawke given her spot will be filled buy felow hawke member Scot farlow natulie waard would have been a better pick has any body heard of mclaron jones

  8. I know her very well Aaron and the change is not actually factional related, as you may think. As I have mentioned before, Natasha MacLaren-Jones is now based in the Southern Highlands and the position that she is taking up on the ticket is the South-West Regional LC Rep, rather than an At-Large member. It makes complete sense that she switched over.

  9. i think its factional if it is not whiy will her vackintsey be filled buy fellow sentre right mp Scott farlow whiy not a moderit or hard right well her husband Damian is chief of staff to the curent local government minister Wendey tuckerman who might lose her seat there is no reason for mclaron jones to runshe still has four years left on her term

  10. on upper house perottits stratigy on mclaron jones geting top spot to help female voters seems strange mclaron jones has little profile any way is hardly a house hold name and with some acseptions most upper house mps would struggle to have much name recognition as votes are based of party ticket in stead oflower house where candadates are mor well known Sarah mitchel wouldbe the most well known nswupper house minister and labor posibly moohkey

  11. No mention of Legalise Cannabis? They just elected 2 MP’s in Vic with a statewide vote of 4%+ Probably because you don’t like Buckingham? Not very sharp to leave them out. The LC’s 2022 NSW Senate vote was 2.6%. This time they have 23 LA candidates, a high profile ticket and are advertising. Antony Green says they will likely win a spot.

  12. Oh for gods sake calm down. I wrote that assessment months ago. I will update it on the weekend. You can also see it’s out of date because of the reference to Nile.

  13. I have said this more than once if you don’t like what Ben Raue does then go jump in the lake.

    This is an amazing service which does not cost anything if you don’t want to contribute.

  14. Danny Lim has run a few times at federal and state elections. He has no party name or is grouped with a bunch of randoms on the upper house ballot paper. With his profile and name recognition, half the job is already done. All he needs is a serious campaign as well as media attention and an army of volunteers and maybe preferences from left-wing parties will follow. Election quotas are pretty low so if he were serious, he would stand a chance.

    He is just in it for fun and he seems happy to just have his name on the ballot paper.

  15. To be honest Danny Lim is a lot better than much of the minor party nutjobs that make it into the upper house. If he actually had a serious campaign with an army of volunteers like the teals, I can see him being able to poll a quota on his own.

  16. I’m willing to tip 2 on seats with Mark Latham on the ticket and conservatives looki n g for an alternative who will stand up for them

  17. turns out latham only got one seat and gthankfuly the former labor mps politicialcorear is finished

  18. Aaron, sadly she can still be appointed to fill Latham’s four-year vacancy to 2027. Based on how she looked during her ABC spat with Matt Kean, despite it being clear at that point in the night that she probably wouldn’t be elected, I’d say that Latham has probably promised her that vacancy. That would make the NSW branch of One Nation majority-controlled by the reject dregs at the bottom of the ALP Right barrel.

  19. “I’m willing to tip 2 on seats with Mark Latham on the ticket and conservatives looki n g for an alternative who will stand up for them”

    Looks like you’ll have a Liberal Democrats MP instead of a second One Nation MP. It’s a… different kind of right wing representation.

  20. The LDP has well and truely become a basketcase. I’ve got a good friend of mine who left the Liberal Party to join the LDP and then to One Nation (fun fact: he is also Korean so, go figure). If you thought the factionalism that was going on with the Liberal Party could get back at times, you ain’t seen nothing yet until you get into the LDP, where it is 100% about “who is the more pure libertarian”.

    According to him, the party has been infiltrated these days by right wingers from the Liberal Party who are trying to get themselves rebranded as Libertarians, much like what some are doing in the US. John Ruddick is case in point, as he was the leader of the attempted Right-Wing revolt within the Liberal Party years ago around preselection processes that lead to what is known formally as the “Warringah Solution” but, in effect, it is voting by plebiscite for preselection. I’ve dealt with him personally and lets just say he loves to attempt a good stand-over people

  21. It looks like SFF and AJP will battle for the last spot. AJP won a seat last time with a slightly lower PV. This election, Labor and Greens preferences may save AJP. SFF may be one of those cyclical parties that come for a few terms and then leave, much like Christian Democrats or the Australian Democrats. LDP had SFF as one of their preferences on their HTV cards. One Nation had vote 1 only on their HTV cards.

    @Hawkeye, Mark Latham also left a major party, joined LDP and then One Nation. He left because he’s too socially conservative for them I believe. Sorry to say this but it appears LDP will win a spot. I am not surprised by what you mentioned about the LDP’s inner workings. It’s modelling itself on the US Republicans and the party’s built around one person. If a second or third parliamentarian get in at a future election, I’d bet that they will quit the party mid-term like many UAP and ONP senators have.

  22. SFF had a chance to establish themselves but their leader is a piece of work and all their lower house MPs left (they all got swings to them this election as independents). I guess that’s the fate of most minor parties, especially on the right.

    If AJP can get Farrelly and Socialist Alliance preferences too, maybe they could get the last seat. We will see – I am not expecting it but it would be funny if they got that last seat due to right wing parties’ inability to preference each other.

  23. There’s hardly information on preferencing and exhaustion of votes in the LC vote.

    Methinks that if you numbered every box on the small LA ballot paper, then chances are, you’ll number more than one box on the big LC ballot paper. We’re creatures of habit. Conversely, if you just voted 1 on the LA ballot, you’re probably only going to number one or two on the LC ballot paper.

    Centre-left and left-wing parties like Labor, Greens, AJP etc. are way more likely to ask voters to number all or most boxes on the LA ballot and number multiple parties on the LC ballot. From memory, Liberals HTV put LDP as second and that’s it. One Nation didn’t preference anyone on their HTV and their voters were the most likely to exhaust their LA votes in 2019.

    @SP, I agree that Farrelly’s preferences, with a combination of ALP and Greens preferences, could push AJP over the line. AJP got their highest vote ever at this election.

  24. Aaron, I’m really curious why you think those parties are in contention for the last seat (especially if “one” is supposed to be One Nation – they are going to win one seat on first preferences and then be no hopers for a second). Every news outlet and observer I’m aware of is in agreement that the last seat is a contest between Animal Justice and the 7th Coalition candidate (Rachel Merton), with the Coalition favoured at this stage. While it’s not impossible, in theory, that some surprise could yet emerge as preferences are thrown, I think it’s highly implausible that the LDP will fall below the SFF *and* Merton *and* Animal Justice, to say nothing of more outlandish suppositions.

  25. Has (L) Learner Latham been returned? And what about Tanya? Has she failed to get the 2nd spot?

    Also I thought I read that Fred Nile was retiring, so why does the ABC say he has been defeated if he didn’t run?

  26. One Nation has 1.27 quotas in the progressive count at time of writing (which won’t change enough to alter the outcome) so Latham has been returned but Mihailuk has not. I’ve seen a lot of reports asserting that she will be appointed to Latham’s casual vacancy for the remaining 4 years of his original term, but I don’t know if this is confirmed and personally I don’t place a lot of faith in Latham or his party to hold up their end of the deal even if that was in fact the deal. This result (sans my speculation about the casual vacancy) is also clearly stated on the ABC’s coverage of the LC count so I’m not sure how you missed it when you saw the bit about Fred Nile.

    About Nile, well, that baffled a lot of observers because he did technically run, but as a second place to his wife Silvana and without a box above the line. It is anyone’s guess why he did such a thing, it would seem much simpler and cheaper to simply retire. Nevertheless the fact of the matter is that he was on the ballot, albeit in a position that was unwinnable for multiple reasons, and so counts as a defeated member rather than a retiring one.

  27. Dryhad, I read from some sources and other posters on this site that candidates who run for re-election (albeit in an unwinnable spot) may be eligible for reimbursement of campaign funds if they poll over 4%. Although I think Fred Nile may have got <4% vote and thus would have been ineligible anyway.

  28. It is mathematically impossible for Nile to have polled over 4% because at time of writing the Others/Below the Line bucket (which also includes some informal ballots) is sitting at 4% total and neither of the Niles are able to receive above the line votes or preferences. The progressive count for Group G – the Niles – is in point of fact 0.03%. So it’s dubious to me that Nile would be entitled to any reimbursement or incentive for recontesting in the manner in which he did, and because it stems from the ballot structure and known behaviour with regard to above and below the line voting it should have been obvious to him prior to nominating.

  29. Yes, agree with your assessment Dryhad. It was a foolish move for Nile, and he would have been better off just retiring instead.

  30. Over 60% of the way through the Check Count for the LC but reporting the following likely scenario:
    Labor – 8
    Coalition – 6
    Greens – 2
    One Nation – 1

    This currently leaves 4 seats. Expect very little flow-on from Labor and No Flow-on from the Greens. This then leaves:
    Legalise Cannabis – 0.79 (Likely to win)
    Lib Dems – 0.75 (Likely to win)

    Ticking those two off, you are left with 2 seats, which will be between:
    SFF – 0.68
    Liberal 7th – 0.66
    Animal Justice – 0.47

    My prediction is that this will be decided from the flow-on from SAP, Group A and Elizabeth Farrelly.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if AJP gets pushed into one of the seats off the back of preferences, meaning that it is a scrap between SFF and Liberal 7th.

    Do we know when the button is pushed?

  31. @Hawkeye_au

    NSWEC website has next Wednesday 19th as the estimated date for distribution of LC preferences.

  32. @hawkeye it will be liberal/nats and sff Animal justice is too low and not enough left parties to get them over the line

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