What happens if an australian senator resigns

Follow our live coverage for the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic. Independent South Australian senator Cory Bernardi has officially resigned from Federal Parliament after a career of 13 years, handing over his seat to the Liberal Party. Senate president Scott Ryan said he had received Mr Bernardi's letter of resignation on Monday, which would take effect immediately.

The resignation takes effect immediately," he said in a post on social media. Mr Bernardi announced late last year he would be leaving politics at the end of , with his "integrity intact and very few regrets". People will make judgments about whether they were right or wrong. Mr Bernardi has often been touted as an outspoken critic of both same-sex marriage and climate change.

He quit the Liberal Party in to form the Australian Conservatives, but his party struggled to attract support at last year's federal election. He announced in June last year that a "lack of political success" and money had meant he was deregistering the Australian Conservatives. He secured a six-year Senate term when he was elected in and his resignation will now trigger a casual vacancy.

Despite him breaking away from the Liberals, the party will still have claim to the seat, as he was a Liberal member when elected. Ludlam reacted to Waters' reaction on Twitter, saying he was proud to have worked with her.

The Greens held nine seats of the 76 in the Australian Senate and one of in the Australian House of Representatives before the resignations. The party will conduct a review following the incident, he said. Seats safe, but are the Greens? Williams told CNN the High Court will likely disqualify Waters and Ludlam and call for a ballot count-back, which would give the number two person on the ticket from their party the seat.

But the resignations of two rising political stars raises questions about what's next for the party, said veteran Australian political journalist Barrie Cassidy.

Many Australian lawmakers have taken to social media to assure constituents they will not be disqualified. In Senate elections, a system called proportional representation voting secures the election of a number of candidates, each of whom has obtained a required quota or proportion of votes necessary for election. The quota is worked out by dividing the total number of formal votes in the election by one more than the number of places available for election No one candidate needs to obtain a majority of votes, as is the case in House of Representative elections.

Votes received in excess of the quota by successful candidates are redistributed to those candidates who have been ranked second by the voters on the excess ballot papers. If insufficient candidates reach a quota after this distribution, the preferences of voters for the least successful candidates are progressively distributed until enough candidates reach a quota to fill the available seats. Independents and members of minority parties, who would not hope to receive enough first votes to achieve a quota, are usually elected on the preferences of voters who gave their first vote to another candidate.

This method of electing senators to the Australian Parliament results in a representation which more closely reflects the wishes of voters than that used by the House of Representatives. In the election for example, the Australian Democrats received They received 6. Proportional representation is designed to ensure that the number of seats won is in proportion to the number of votes received.

What happens if a senator resigns or dies before his or her term expires?