April 15, 2013
Barnaby Joyce, New England and Senate Vacancies
I’ve been asked several times since Barnaby Joyce won National endorsement to contest New England, whether he has to resign from the Senate to contest New England.
The short answer is no he does not have to resign, or at least not yet. However, he will need to resign once the legal election campaign is under way later this year if he wants his nomination to be accepted.
If Joyce wins New England, he will become only the sixth person to represent two states in the Parliament, and the first to represent one state in the Senate and another in the House. He would also be the first two-stater since Billy Hughes to change state without an intervening defeat.
If Joyce is not successful, he can be appointed to the Senate vacancy created by his resignation. However, Senator Joyce has ruled out this escape route. I’m sure Senator Joyce would not want to be seen as a politician who says one thing before an election to get elected, but does something else after the election.
At this stage Senator Joyce is just a selected National Party candidate. Until the writs for the election are issued, there is no election, there is no call for nominations, and there are no candidates.
While the Prime Minister has stated the election will be held on 14 September, that has very little meaning for the mechanics of the election until the writs are issued. According to the timetable published by the AEC, the writs will be issued on Monday 12 August, nominations will close on 22 August and the election will be held on 14 September.
Senator Joyce must resign from the Senate before his nomination is lodged. Registered parties nominate candidates centrally, so Senator Joyce must resign from the Senate before the National nomination list is lodged, one day before the close of nominations.
If Senator Joyce does not resign before his nomination is lodged, his nomination will be void. So you can be absolutely certain that Senator Joyce will have his resignation letter in the hands of the Senate President before the close of nominations.
For the moment Senator Joyce can remain a Senator for Queensland at the same time as he is the National candidate for New England.
Senator Joyce was first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2010. His most recent term stated on 1 July 2011. His current term expires in 30 June 2017. Once he resigns from the Senate, the Parliament of Queensland will appoint a replacement to fill the balance of his term through to 2017.
If Senator Joyce wins New England, the Queensland Parliament will act promptly to fill his vacancy.
But what about if Joyce is defeated contesting New England? Can he be appointed to his own vacancy?
The only Senator to be appointed to fill the vacancy caused by their own resignation was South Australian Jeannie Ferris. She had a qualification problem in relation to her election, a problem that was nullified by resignation and re-appointment.
A Senator has never been re-appointed to their Senate vacancy after contesting the House, though it was briefly mooted in relation to John Stone after losing his House tilt in 1990. It has happened in the NSW Legislative Council, where Christian Democrat Fred Nile resigned to contest the 2004 Senate election, and was re-appointed to his own seat after he missed out on election.
So Joyce could be re-appointed as long as the Queensland Parliament has not already filled his vacancy. However, as I pointed out, Senator Joyce has ruled out this path.
Senator Joyce follows a well trodden path, as since the 1960s there have been some very high profile Senators who have resigned to win election to the House. These include Fred Chaney, Gareth Evans, Bob McMullan, John Gorton, Allan Rocher, Kathy Sullivan and Bronwyn Bishop. Three others, Steele Hall, Belinda Neal and Cheryl Kernot, switched houses with a break in service, in the case of Hall and Neal, losing at their first attempt to move to the House.
If successful, Joyce will become only the sixth MP to represent more than one state, and the first to do so by switching chambers. He would also be only the second after Billy Hughes to do so without an intervening electoral defeat.
Billy Hughes is the best known state shifter, representing the NSW seat of West Sydney 1901-17, shifting to Bendigo in Victoria after the Labor split on conscription, then the safe conservative seats of North Sydney and Bradfield 1922-52. Of course, Hughes is better known for his habit of switching party.
The most recent state shifter was Nelson Lemmon, representing Forrest in WA from 1943 until defeated in 1949, then St George in NSW from 1954 until defeated in 1955.
Labor’s Parker Moloney represented the Victorian seat of Indi 1910-13 and 1914-17 when he was defeated because of his opposition to conscription. He then crossed the Murray River to win the NSW seat of Hume in 1919, representing that seat until defeated in 1931, despite choosing to continue living in Melbourne.
Dr Lewis Nott won Herbert at the 1925 election, an important result as he defeated Labor’s Ted Theodore, who had resigned as Premier to contest the seat. Theodore was forced to move to Sydney to enter Federal parliament. Nott was defeated in 1928, but moved to Canberra and became Medical Superintendent of Canberra Hospital. He won the new ACT seat in the House of Representatives at the 1949 election as an Independent, but was defeated by Labor’s Jim Fraser in 1951.
The final case is Labor’s William Spence who represented the NSW seat of Darling 1901-17. Defeated at that year’s election, he was re-elected at a by-election for the Tasmanian seat of Darwin, but contested a Melbourne seat unsuccessfully at the 1919 election.
UPDATE: I am sure I heard Senator Joyce say in an interview that he would not go back to the Senate. I can’t find the relevant quote, but it would make a good question for his next interview.
Posted by Antony Green on April 15, 2013 at 08:45 PM in Electoral Law, Federal Politics and Governments, Senate Elections | Permalink