The results are in. The new Senate comprises the following number of senators:
From a shooting perspective it would be fair to say the Greens, Hinch and possibly Xenophon are anti-firearm. Those likely to be for include One Nation, LDP, Family First (Bob Day) and maybe Jacquie Lambie.
If we include the maybes, that would be 13 anti, and 7 for.
As the government would need 9 votes to get a majority (30+9=39, to get more than 50% of 76), any vote important enough to reach the senate could go either way.
Given the Greens would be likely to always vote against what we do, we suspect the overall result would not be good for us; but possibly better than the last Senate we had.
Hi Neil,
Im probably not understanding this as well as i should so my dumb question is what happened to Bob Katter ?
There are no dumb questions – only dumb answers. Bob got re-elected. He almost became the most important pollie in the land, but the coalition now has a majority in the lower house – just.
With such a slim margin, the coalition would not want to upset our supporters lest some unforeseen circumstance changes the balance in Parliaqment. Against my inclinations Neil, I supported Michael Sukkar in Deakin on the basis of your recommendation. It seems the support of the Firearms Council may have helped to increase his margin while conversely Jason Wood’s margin was diminished by his hostility to us. When opportune, this point might be made to both.
Katter isn’t on the senate, he is in the house of reps?
Hi Neil; with such a slim margin, the coalition should take some care to not offend the cross bench in case unforeseen circumstance alters the Parliamentary balance. Against my inclinations, I heeded your advice to support Michael Sukkar in Deakin. Doubtlessly recreational shooter/hunter support had some impact on his improved margin and for his colleague Jason Wood a commensurate decline in his margin due to his hostility. At some opportune time these concepts ought to be communicated to both.
Thanks Hans. The recommendations always have stories behind them. It’s a shame Wood got back with the margin he did: that’s something we’ll be looking at at our next meeting on 31 Aug. Appreciate your support and feedback. Regards Neil
Yes, in the House of Reps. The govt doesn’t need him yet but a by-election or something similar would change that – and Turnbull knows it – so I would think Turnbull will treat him with kid gloves. Or at least I hope so.