Recount only the start

A RECOUNT of Senate votes from the 2016 election will occur on Tuesday to fill the vacancies caused by the High Court’s disqualification of former senator Jacqui Lambie and former Senate president Stephen Parry.

Both were disqualified yesterday by Justice Geoffrey Nettle because they were dual citizens via their parents.

An Australian Electoral Commission statement said the count would not require manual handling of ballot papers.

“The AEC will use the voter preference data already taken from the ballot papers of votes cast at the 2016 Tasmanian Senate election to complete the special count,” it said.

“Once the special count is completed, the Australian Electoral Officer for Tasmania will provide the result to the High Court of Australia for its consideration.”

Polling analyst Kevin Bonham believes the recount will result in Devonport Mayor Steve Martin, who was a Jacqui Lambie Network candidate, being eligible to replace Ms Lambie and former Tourism and International Education Minister Richard Colbeck place of Mr Parry.

But he said that if Mr Martin is the highest vote-getter it was expected the High Court would look at the cases again on December 13.

Mr Martin was mayor of Devonport at the time of nomination, which could mean he held an office of profit under the Crown, a reason for disqualification. in

There is also concern that the third JLN candidate, Rob Waterman, may also hold such an office as a federally funded rural counsellor.

Mr Waterman has said he is not keen to enter politics.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is expected to argue in the High Court for the disqualification of both Mr Martin and Mr Waterman, which would hand the seat to their candi- date — Kate McCulloch.

Ms Lambie said she wanted the seat to be filled through a casual vacancy, which would allow the party to choose the replacement.

“If Steve Martin gets ruled out I may not have the votes left and therefore I am going to be rubbed out altogether and I don’t think that is the intended consequences that the court would want to see,’’ she said.