It is possible the home affairs minister is in breach of Section 44(v) of the Constitution – and if the High Court were to find him so, it would cause yet another headache for the government.
Labor will argue David Gillespie ineligible to be an MP based on Section 44(v) of the Constitution.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Given the Turnbull government only has a one-seat majority in the lower house, the immediate stakes of the challenge to David Gillespie’s eligibility are as high as they could possibly be.
Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives party has amalgamated with Family First, which shares similar social conservative values.
AAP/Lukas Coch
While minor right-wing parties are advancing specific policy agendas, Australia’s major right-of-centre force appears to be grappling with internal divisions about its policy direction.
The issue before the court was whether Bob Day was disqualified from being elected because of Section 44(v) of the Constitution.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The departure of up to two crossbench senators and the uncertainty over who might replace them is giving the government fresh obstacles in their efforts to pass legislation.
Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday left up in the air whether the industrial bills would come to a vote before the parliament gets up for the summer recess.
David Moir/AAP
Malcolm Turnbull laughs off the suggestion that this week’s extraordinary developments mean the Senate is in chaos. Okay, let’s humour the Prime Minister.
Rod Culleton said in a statement that the Solicitor-General’s opinion had concluded he was “not duly elected as a senator”.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Further uncertainty has been thrown over the Senate crossbench, with the government now moving to have the High Court determine whether One Nation’s Rod Culleton was ineligible for election.
Family First senator Bob Day, who has now resigned his Senate seat.
AAP/Sam Mooy
Changes to Senate voting laws and the particular case of Senator Bob Day make for an unprecedented constitutional tangle, and one that will change the make-up of the Senate.
If Bob Day’s election as the twelfth senator from South Australia was invalid it means he is not replaced by a candidate nominated by Family First.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Within hours of Bob Day submitting his Senate resignation on Tuesday, the government announced it would move for the High Court to rule on whether he had been ineligible to sit in the upper house.
Bob Day’s future as a senator is unsure.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The Turnbull-Abbott hostilities erupted in a very public manner this week over the terms of a ban on the importation of the Adler seven-shot lever-action shotgun.
Bob Day said in a statement that the Home Australia Group of several companies has gone into liquidation.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The returned Turnbull government can now add arguably one of the most diverse and potentially volatile senates ever to be elected in Australia to its list of political problems.
Family First senator Bob Day unsuccessfully challenged the government’s changes to the way senators are elected.
AAP/Sam Mooy
The High Court regarded none of Bob Day’s arguments in his challenge to Senate voting reforms as having any merit.
Before entering politics, Scott Morrison was employed to develop policy for the Property Council of Australia, which is now leading the charge against negative-gearing reform.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The default position for politicians is to sound concerned about housing affordability, but do nothing. This can be explained by the idea of ‘policy capture’, in this case by industry interests.
Family First senator Bob Day is one of eight crossbenchers who would face an election in the event of a double dissolution.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Family First senator Bob Day is set to propose an amendment to the legislation changing the Senate voting system that would prevent the government using the new rules in a double dissolution.
Family First senator Bob Day’s proposed changes to Section 18C have been given fresh prominence since the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Early in 2014, federal Attorney-General George Brandis released a proposal to significantly amend our law against racial vilification, Sections 18C and 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act, on the strength…
With his strong views on industrial relations, Family First senator Bob Day is what we might call a ‘conservative libertarian’.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Few members of the 20th-century political right were more important than Milton Friedman. As an academic, author, television presenter and adviser to Ronald Reagan – who once described his show Free to…