RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2020–21              UPDATED 2 DECEMBER 2020

Composition of Australian parliaments by party and gender: a quick guide

Anna Hough

Politics & Public Administration Section

This quick guide contains the most recent tables showing the composition of Australian parliaments by party and gender (see Tables 1 and 2 below). It takes into account changes to the Commonwealth and state/territory parliaments since the last update was published on 11 September 2020.

Commonwealth

House of Representatives

Following the retirement of John McVeigh (LIB, Groom, Qld) on 18 September 2020, the resulting by-election on 28 November 2020 was won by Garth Hamilton (LIB).

Senate

The casual vacancy created by the resignation of Mathias Cormann (LIB, WA) on 6 November 2020 was filled by Ben Small (LIB).

New South Wales

Legislative Assembly

Leslie Williams (Port Macquarie) resigned from the Nationals and joined the Liberal Party on 20 September 2020.

Legislative Council

Shaoquett Moselmane returned to the ALP after his party membership was restored.

Victoria

In the Legislative Council, following the resignation of Jenny Mikakos (ALP, Northern Metropolitan) on 26 September 2020, Sheena Watt (ALP) was appointed to fill the resulting casual vacancy on 13 October 2020.

Queensland

The figures for Queensland reflect the results of the general election held on 31 October 2020. The proportion of women in the Queensland Parliament has remained steady at 29 women members out of 93 (31.2 per cent).

Western Australia

In the Legislative Council, independent Charles Smith joined the Western Australia Party on 12 May 2020.

Australian Capital Territory

The figures for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) reflect the results of the general election held on 17 October 2020. As a result of the election the number of women in the ACT Legislative Assembly has increased from 13 to 14 (52 per cent to 56 per cent).

Northern Territory

On 21 October 2020 Robyn Lambley (Araluen) resigned from the Territory Alliance to sit as an independent, in a move that left the party without any seats in the NT Legislative Assembly.

© Commonwealth of Australia

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