A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and opposition benches, where crossbenchers sit in the chamber.
Derryn Nigel Hinch is a New Zealand-born media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author. He is best known for his career in Australia, on Melbourne radio and television. He served as a Senator for Victoria from 2016 to 2019.
The Libertarian Party (LP), formerly known as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is an Australian political party founded in Canberra in 2001. The party espouses smaller government and supports policies that are based on classical liberal, libertarian principles, such as lower taxes, opposing restrictions on civil liberties, decentralisation, uranium mining, and the relaxation of smoking laws.
Western Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council by proportional representation. The region was created in 2006 following the 2005 reform of the Victorian Legislative Council.
Northern Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council by proportional representation. The region was created in 2006 following the 2005 reform of the Victorian Legislative Council.
Western Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council by proportional representation. The region was created in 2006 following the 2005 reform of the Victorian Legislative Council.
Reason Australia, commonly referred to as the Reason Party or as simply Reason, was an Australian political party. Its leader, Fiona Patten, described the party as a "civil libertarian alternative". Patten was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as at the 2018 state election in the Northern Metropolitan Region, after formerly being elected as a Sex Party member for the same seat in 2014. However, she lost re-election in 2022.
Glenn William Druery is an Australian political strategist, electoral campaigner and ultra-distance cyclist. He has played a leading role in the electoral success of various micro and minor parties in Australia since the mid-1990s. Currently, Druery is the chief of staff for independent senator Fatima Payman.
The Sustainable Australia Party (SAP), officially registered as Sustainable Australia Party – Universal Basic Income, is an Australian political party that was formed in 2010.
The Minor Party Alliance (MPA) is a collaborative undertaking of small Australian political parties, created by Glenn Druery's "Independent Liaison" business, which assists in organising preference meetings and negotiating preference flows between minor parties in Australia. The aim of the Alliance is the election of Alliance candidates to Australian upper houses based upon the accumulation of their primary votes and the registered "above-the-line" party preferences to reach an electoral quota. For the Australian Senate, the quota for a half-Senate election in each State is normally 14.3%. The MPA effectively aims to "game" the electoral system, an act it believes to be justified, based upon their perception that the Australian electoral system is unfair and heavily biased against minor parties.
Section 13 of the Constitution of Australia provides for three aspects of the terms of members of the Australian Senate: the timing of elections, the commencement date of their terms and for the Senate to allocate long (six-year) and short (three-year) terms following a double dissolution of the Parliament of Australia. While members of the House of Representatives and territory senators have a maximum three-year term, state senators have a fixed six-year term, subject only to the parliament being dissolved by a double dissolution.
The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The first-term incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Daniel Andrews, won a second four-year term, defeating the Liberal/National Coalition opposition, led by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy in a landslide victory. Minor party the Greens led by Samantha Ratnam also contested the election.
Hinch was an Australian television current affairs and commentary program, broadcast on Sky News Australia and hosted by Derryn Hinch. The program initially aired as a twice weekly program on Saturday and Sunday nights, and was originally scheduled to premiere on 31 January 2015, however the launch date was moved back a day to 1 February 2015.
The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolution federal election. All 151 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate were up for election.
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate following the 2016 Australian federal election held on 2 July 2016. The election was held as a consequence of a double dissolution in which both houses of parliament were dissolved. Ordinarily, only half of the senators terms end at each election. In this case, all 76 senators were elected. At the first sitting following the election, half of the senators representing each of the six states of Australia were allocated six-year terms to end on 30 June 2022, with the remainder allocated three-year terms to end on 30 June 2019. The terms of senators from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory end on the day of the next federal election.
The 2016 Australian federal election in the Senate was part of a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissolution election since the 1987 election and the first under a new voting system for the Senate that replaced group voting tickets with optional preferential voting.
David Boyd Limbrick is an Australian politician. He is a Libertarian member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 2018, representing South-Eastern Metropolitan Region. He resigned in April 2022 and unsuccessfully contested the 2022 federal election as a Senate candidate for his party. In June 2022 he returned to the Victorian Parliament as an MP and was subsequently re-elected at the 2022 state election.
Catherine Rebecca Cumming is a former Australian politician. She was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from November 2018 to November 2022, representing the Western Metropolitan Region. She stood at the 2018 Victorian state election as a candidate for Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, but broke with the party just weeks after being elected, and was sworn in as an independent. A frequent speaker at anti-COVID vaccine rallies, Cumming joined the Angry Victorians Party in 2022 but was unsuccessful in her re-election attempt, gaining just 0.57% of the vote.
The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election at the time the writs were issued, however the election in the district of Narracan was deferred due to the death of a candidate.
The 2026 Victorian state election is expected to be held on 28 November 2026 to elect the 61st Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council will be up for election, presuming there are no new electorates added in a redistribution.
