Australia Senate election 2022 — Results

Setting the scene

The 2022 Australian Senate election was held on 21 May 2022 alongside the House of Representatives, contesting 40 of the 76 seats in an ordinary half-Senate election. As the incoming Albanese Labor government took office in the House, the Senate result confirmed that it would have to legislate through a crossbench in which the Australian Greens, enjoying their best-ever Senate showing, held the decisive balance of power.

How the vote works

The Senate is elected by proportional single transferable vote, each state returning six senators for six-year terms at a half-Senate election and each territory two. The roughly 14.3% quota needed for a state seat means smaller parties and independents are far better represented in the Senate than in the House. The bars and map above show first-preference vote share by party, with the senators each group won at this election.

The outcome

The Coalition and Labor each won 15 of the 40 contested seats. The Greens surged to six — their strongest Senate result ever — and the remaining four seats went to One Nation, Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, the Jacqui Lambie Network and, in a notable upset, the independent David Pocock, a former Wallabies rugby captain who defeated a sitting Liberal in the Australian Capital Territory. On first preferences the Coalition led with 34.24% to Labor's 30.09% and the Greens' 12.66%. Although the Coalition narrowly topped the first-preference count, the makeup of the new Senate was far more favourable to the incoming Labor government's agenda.

The map

The Coalition led the first-preference Senate vote in most states, while Labor led in Western Australia and the territories. The Greens polled strongly everywhere, clearing a quota in every state. David Pocock's win in the ACT — where he out-polled the Liberal candidate — was the standout regional story. The map above colours each state and territory by its first-preference leader; click any region for the full breakdown and the senators returned.

What happened next

From July 2022 the new Senate gave Labor a clear route to passing legislation: with 26 of its own senators (combining the newly elected with continuing members), it needed only the Greens' twelve votes, or a combination of the Greens and one or two of the independents Pocock and Lambie, to reach the 39 needed for a majority. That made the Greens and the two independents the key negotiating partners for the Albanese government's climate, housing and industrial-relations bills throughout the 47th Parliament.

Where the data comes from

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) — official tally room results at results.aec.gov.au.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.