
BREAKING NEWS Why Pauline Hanson is the surprise massive WINNER of the election
The final make up of the Senate after the federal election has been decided, with One Nation claiming the final seat to equal its best standing in federal parliament.
One Nation's Warwick Stacey won the sixth slot in NSW after the Australian Electoral Commission declared the results for the state on Friday.
Labor was expected to pick up the final seat in NSW, but a strong flow of preferences meant the One Nation candidate was able to get over the line.
It means Pauline Hanson 's party will have four senators in the next parliament, equalling its high watermark from 2016.
Mr Stacey will join Senator Hanson alongside re-elected Queensland senator Malcolm Roberts and the newly elected Tyron Whitten from Western Australia.
The other five senators elected from NSW included Labor's Tony Sheldon and Tim Ayres, Liberals Andrew Bragg and Jessica Collins as well as Mehreen Faruqi from the Greens.
Labor will have 28 senators in the 76-seat upper house, with the coalition having 27, the Greens with 11, One Nation with four and the remaining six being independents or from minor parties.
A total of 39 votes is needed to pass laws in the Senate, meaning Labor can ensure passage of bills with the support of just the Greens or the coalition.
It comes as the Australian Electoral Commission launched an investigation after almost half of all votes from a polling place were ruled as informal.
Of the 111 people who voted at a polling booth in Missabotti near Coffs Harbour in the seat of Cowper, 50 ballots for the lower house were filled out incorrectly.
Residents from the area told the ABC they were informed by election staff to number both ballot papers from one to six, despite there being 11 candidates.
Ballots for the House of Representatives must have all boxes numbered in order of preference to be deemed valid.
A minimum of six boxes must be filled out on the Senate ballot paper for the party of the voter's choice.
The high informal votes would not have affected the outcome in the seat, with Nationals MP Pat Conaghan winning by more than 5,000 votes.
'If the reports from Cowper are accurate and our staff were providing incorrect instructions, this is disappointing,' an electoral commission spokesman said.
'The AEC takes ballot paper formality very seriously - our intention is always to maximise the number of voters who are able to participate in a federal election by casting a formal vote.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Grace Tame's contract with Nike under threat just six months after she was made an ambassador as sports brand launches probe into her views on Israel
Grace Tame 's role as a Nike ambassador may be at risk after the sportswear brand started a probe into her views on Israel. The former Australian of the Year is an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault and has shared several posts on social media in solidarity with Palestinians. Nike released a statement on Monday stating Tame's team were being spoken to, although it's not been confirmed exactly what sparked the probe. 'Nike does not stand for any form of discrimination,' a spokeswoman told The Australian. 'We take this matter very seriously and are in touch with Grace's team to understand the matter further.' Tame has been an ambassador for Nike for only six months after she was appointed by Nike in January. The Australian athlete has been vocal in her support of Palestinians and last month joined a panel of speakers at the Feminism in the Time of Gaza forum. At least 450 people heard from four speakers at The Edge in Federation Square, Melbourne at a forum organised by the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN). Tame said this was the first time she had spoken publicly about Palestine and revealed she had been asked not to speak about the Gaza-Israel conflict at several events. 'Empathy should have no boundaries,' Tame, who won the 2024 Victorian Great Ocean Road Ultramarathon, said. Tame joined Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, a lawyer and human rights advocate and Randa Abdel-Fattah, a writer and advocate for Palestinian people. Jordana Silverstein, a senior research fellow at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the University of Melbourne, also sat on the panel. On Monday, the same day Nike released a statement, Tame shared a quote from climate activist Greta Thunberg who is on board a Freedom Flotilla aid mission sailing to Gaza aimed at breaking Israel's blockade. 'We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity.' The World Health Organisation has warned Gaza is at risk of famine as a result of the blockade. Three-quarters of Gaza's population is at risk of suffering 'emergency' or 'catastrophic' food deprivation. Last week, Tame reposted a statement on Instagram from Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd, in which he critcised journalists who reported on the fatal shooting of an Israeli embassy couple in Washington DC as a 'random anti-Semitic attack'. Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when they were shot dead. Elias Rodriguez, who police say shouted 'free Palestine' after being taken into custody, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. In November 2023, Tame added her voice to Oxfam Australia's demand for a ceasefire in Gaza. Daily Mail Australia contacted Nike and Tame for comment. Tame had shared a gushing message in January after revealing she was the new ambassador for Nike. 'I couldn't be more excited to announce that I am officially an ambassador for Nike. This has been a long time in the making,' she wrote. She thanked her manager, Lauren Miller, and cousin Eloise Nairn-Smith, who founded the website Ritual Runners and who Tame called her 'coach and hero'.


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
How the Greens' Dorinda Cox was slammed as a 'bully rat' for defecting to Anthony Albanese's Labor - but her past is coming back to haunt her
She's the Greens senator who defected to Labor in a move that sent a jolt through Canberra and now Dorinda Cox's past attacks on the ALP have come back to haunt her. Cox surprised the minor party, which holds the balance of power in the Senate, by announcing on Monday that she was jumping ship to Labor - revealing that she approached the PM to join the party in the wake of its landslide election win. Cox had only recently missed out on a leadership role in the Greens and was at the centre of controversy in her party over allegations surrounding her treatment of her staff. At one point, she was so divisive in the Greens that she was labelled a 'bully rat' by some fellow members. And now her past comments about Labor have come back to haunt her, with Cox - who is Indigenous - having previously slammed the ALP as having 'dropped our people like a hot potato after the Voice referendum', and described Labor as a 'puppet' of the fossil fuel industry and liars. Senator Cox only informed party leader Larissa Waters of her decision about an hour prior to the announcement. The Yamatji-Noongar woman was elected to the upper house in 2021 to fill a Greens vacancy and had been the party's Indigenous affairs spokesperson. Despite having last year suggested the Albanese government was 'not interested' in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, Cox said she felt her values and priorities were better aligned with Labor than the Greens. 'I've worked hard to make Australia fairer and much more reconciled, but recently, I've lost some confidence in the capacity for the Greens to assist me in being able to progress this,' she told reporters. 'I feel reassured with my experience, my skills and my knowledge, I can continue to collaborate and build on the existing relationships with an already amazing team of Labor MPs across the country.' Waters said the party was disappointed but wished Cox well. 'Senator Cox has said that her values align with the Labor party. This is the same Labor party who this week approved the climate wrecking North West Shelf gas project, which UNESCO advises will destroy significant First Nations heritage and ancient rock art,' she said in a statement. 'Senator Cox would have had more chance of effecting change by continuing to work with the Greens in the sole balance of power.' Cox, who was a member of the Labor Party before joining the Greens, will be formally admitted into Labor on Tuesday. She was not required to run in this year's federal election as she was elected for a six-year term in 2022. Mr Albanese said Cox, the first Indigenous woman to represent WA in the upper house, had approached him about the switch and would be a welcome addition to the government benches. 'She wants to be part of a team that's delivering progress for this country by being a part of a government that can make decisions, to make a difference,' he said. 'Dorinda Cox is someone who's a former police officer. She's someone who has a lot to offer in terms of policy development.' Cox was accused of bullying Greens staffers in 2024, with as many as 20 employees leaving in three years and complaints made to parliament's workplace support service. The allegations surrounding Ms Cox, a former WA Police officer, were aired by the Sydney Morning Herald in October 2024. In one complaint sent to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) in 2021, a former staffer claimed to have witnessed 'disturbing behaviour' from Ms Cox towards colleagues. 'These experiences made me concerned for my safety and for the safety of others in the office,' the staffer told the publication. 'I spent much of the time feeling like I was walking on eggshells just waiting for Dorinda to explode at me.' A draft complaint by another staffer, which was not formally lodged, claimed Ms Cox would apologise for her actions 'but the behaviour would continue'. Some of Dorinda Cox's past attacks on Labor... 'Often times becoming aggressive, persistently negative and sometimes vicious which ultimately resulted in my mental health declining to the point of having daily panic attacks, thoughts of suicide and an almost complete loss of self-esteem in my professional ability,' the former staffer wrote in the draft complaint. 'I felt at the time that if I didn't resign from my position that my mental health would deteriorate to such a state to require medical intervention in a hospital setting, something I articulated to the chief of staff in Adam Bandt's office.' It's understood four formal complaints were submitted to the PWSS and five referred to the office of Greens leader Adam Bandt. Mr Albanese said the allegations had been examined and dealt with. 'They were all dealt with in Senator Cox's case and dealt with appropriately,' he said. Cox said improvements for Indigenous people would be more achievable within the government than from the crossbench. 'I made that (decision) based on some deep reflection,' she said. 'It was one that I considered both at a professional level, but also at a personal level. So this wasn't a decision that I did on the hop or based on emotion.' Cox last week spoke out against the Albanese government's decision to allow fossil fuel giant Woodside to continue operating its North West Shelf gas project until 2070. Although her X page has been made private, several of her posts criticising Labor have resurfaced. 'Labor and the Coalition have shamefully declared their intention to pass the Sea Dumping Amendment Bill,' she wrote in one. 'Make no mistake, this will show Labor and the Coalition are puppets for the fossil fuel industry and enablers of continuing state capture and climate destruction.' In another post, Cox wrote: 'This Labor government needs to get serious. 'Stop lying and stop the 114 coal and gas projects in the pipeline. 'It's time to put your money where your mouth is.' Pressed on her previous opposition to the North West Shelf project, Cox said she did not want to comment on the issue as the extension was still being provisionally approved. Cox last year accused the Albanese government of being complicit in 'war crimes' carried out by Israel in Gaza. Labor still requires the support of either the Greens or the coalition to pass legislation despite gaining a 29th senator.


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Former Channel Seven star Denham Hitchcock breaks his silence as he confirms shock move to Network Ten
Channel Seven 's Denham Hitchcock has officially jumped ship to Network Ten, becoming the third high-profile journalist to exit the network in a major shake-up of Australia's media landscape. The veteran reporter confirmed the news on Monday on Instagram, revealing he would be joining Ten's soon-to-be-launched investigative unit – and that the move had a personal twist. 'Well here we go. I've switched channels. But also in a way – I've come full circle,' Hitchcock began. 'I grew up watching my father on Channel Ten News every night. I had a bunk bed with Eyewitness News stickers all over it – and can still sing the theme song.' He added: 'So I'm delighted to start work here today – joining the network to help with its plans for the future.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. He also shared a throwback photo of his father, veteran Ten journalist Kevin Hitchcock, sporting a classic 1980s moustache and captioned it with some amusing words: 'Not sure I could pull one of those off – but there's still time.' The move comes just days after The Australian reported that Hitchcock, along with 7News Sydney's Bill Hogan and award-winning former foreign correspondent Amelia Brace, had all resigned from Seven to join Ten. The trio are believed to have signed on to front a new current affairs program backed by Ten's head of news, Martin White. Brace and Hitchcock left Seven's Sydney newsroom within hours of quitting and began work at Ten on Monday. Hogan is expected to start in three weeks. The departures fuel speculation that Ten is preparing to launch a prime-time news magazine show to take on Nine's 60 Minutes, Seven's Spotlight, and ABC's Four Corners. Industry sources say the new program will focus on long-form investigative stories and is currently assembling what's been described as a 'crack team' of reporters and producers. A Ten spokesperson confirmed the shake-up to Daily Mail Australia, saying: 'Following the continued growth and success of our news brand, 10 News, we are investing in an investigative unit that will work on long-form stories.' For Hitchcock, the move comes just three months after returning to Seven following a break from TV journalism to live on a catamaran with his wife Mari and their young children. He had originally helped launch Spotlight in 2019 and led the network's coverage of major crime and current affairs stories, including last year's Who Killed Marea? documentary on Sky News. Despite his short return to Seven, Hitchcock appears ready to dive back into serious reporting at Ten – and has called on viewers to help feed him stories. 'To everyone who keeps sending me stories to look into – keep them coming. I read every message,' he wrote. Ten's new current affairs program is expected to launch later this year. Hitchcock departs only three months after having returned to Seven after a couple of years off living on a catamaran with his young family. 'I'm back. It's time to wash some of the salt out - and get back to what I do best,' he wrote on social media.