Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Noting that the office of the President has become vacant, I move:

That Senator Lines take the chair of the Senate as President.

The Clerk: Are there any further nominations?

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That First Nations woman Greens senator Dorinda Cox take the chair of the Senate as President.

The Clerk: Unless there are any further nominations, t here being two nominations , I invite—

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I nominate Glenn Sterle.

The Clerk: It would not be in order to do that, because the standing orders require that you nominate a senator who is present, but thank you. I invite the two candidates to address the Senate.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Clerk. Senators, I am seeking your support today to be the President of the Senate, and if you bestow that honour on me, I will certainly carry out the role of President in an impartial way. I have had a long apprenticeship as deputy, so I know most of you, and I look forward to getting to know the new senators. I look forward to you putting your trust and support in me.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I submit myself to the will of the Senate. Never in this country's colonised history has a First Nations person ever been appointed as the President of the Senate. At a time when there is more First Nations representation here, in the 47th Parliament, than ever before, it's now our chance to take that further step and realise the full ambition of our First Nations parliamentarians.

In May, across this country, Australians told us that they wished to see a different parliament. They made it clear that their parliamentarians don't just talk about their communities. They should also look like them, they should sound like them and they should be from those communities. This morning each of you were welcomed to country with an expectation we will set ourselves on the right path and begin a new legacy together of truth-telling, of accountability, of treaty and of justice.

I thank the Australian Greens party room for this important and history-making nomination, and I thank you all for your support.

The Clerk: The Senate will now proceed to ballot. Please write on the ballot paper the name of the candidate you wish to vote for. The candidates are Senator Lines and Senator Cox. I invite Senator Urquhart and Senator McKim to act as scrutineers.

A ballot having been tak en—

The Clerk: I announce the result of the ballot as follows: informal, two votes; Senator Cox, 12 votes; Senator Lines, 54 votes. Senator Lines is therefore elected President of the Senate in accordance with the standing orders.

Senator Lines having bee n conducted to the dais—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senators, for the honour and privilege bestowed on me here today. I will do my utmost to be a fair and consultative President. I want to acknowledge the outgoing President, Senator Slade Brockman, and thank him for being collegiate and for including me in lots of his duties. I wish him well and I look forward to working in a similar manner with the deputy.

Thank you, Senator Cox, for participation in the ballot today. It is always good to see democratic processes in place, and I thank all senators for that honour today of electing me as the President.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the government to congratulate you on your election as President of the Senate. At the outset, I note the longstanding convention that the government of the day has the right to nominate the President of the Senate, and I thank the chamber for its continued respect of this convention.

In making this nomination, the government has nominated a senator who is appropriately qualified and suited to the significant responsibility that comes with occupying the chair of the Senate as President. As people know, Senator Lines has served the chamber since 2013, as Deputy President and Chair of Committees since 2016, and I have no doubt that her experience over these terms will serve her well as she takes on this responsibility.

I also make the point about the operation of the convention and the operation of this chamber. This can be a partisan place; we've all been part of that. But I always regard it as a matter of pride that in this place these elections, certainly between the parties of government, observe some of the principles that I think matter to our Westminster system, and both parties of government have always ensured that the party, notwithstanding that neither of us ever has the numbers in its own right, except on one occasion since I've been here, always observes its obligation to the system and to the conventions which underpin it, so I thank the Senate.

I make another point. I was elected quite a long time ago now, as people keep reminding me, and I remember that the first Senate President I served under was Margaret Reid. She was the first woman to serve as Senate President—I think between 1996 and 2002—and I acknowledge that it was the coalition who nominated the first woman. She held the respect and support of all senators, and I'm confident Senator Lines will do so and will be able to expect the same across the Senate. It's taken a long time, but I'm pleased that we see yet another woman serving in this high office.

I'm confident Senator Lines will represent the interests of the Senate and the parliament as a whole, particularly when it comes to matters of privilege. I'm confident she will join her predecessors as a principal defender of the role and authority of the Senate in relation to the other place. So, on behalf of the government, I congratulate you, Senator Lines. President, we wish you every success in this most important of roles.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

President, I congratulate you on your election to this very important office within this chamber as President of the Senate. In doing so, I also acknowledge the longstanding convention in the Senate of the role of the party of government to nominate the President of the Senate. I congratulate you on being the nominee of the government and, with that, enjoying the support of both the government and the opposition to take this place. I particularly acknowledge the role of former President Senator Slade Brockman. I thank Senator Brockman for his all-too-short service in the chair and acknowledge that during that time he discharged his duties with nothing but professionalism, fairness and diligence, and worked cooperatively with you, President—then as Deputy President—as his distinguished predecessor, Senator Scott Ryan, equally had done.

It was, indeed, a long period of service that you held as Deputy President. It brings you, President, to this chair, with much knowledge and experience of the procedures and processes of the chamber, and the other important functions and roles of President that you will now discharge. You do so at a time of a new government, a new parliament and a new Senate. With that, it's important that all of us remember the very special responsibilities that fall upon you as President to this Senate and to all senators in the fulfilling of those duties, to ensure the proper functioning of this chamber and to ensure that the dignity of this chamber is upheld. These are duties that also fall upon each and every one of us in our conduct that we bring to this place, and I hope that all senators will work to make sure that you, the deputy and those who hold the chair from time to time are all supported as much as possible in that role. It is also important that the role provide every opportunity for each senator to advance their issues of concern, for each senator to be able freely to debate, to challenge and to contest ideas across this chamber, to scrutinise the government of the day, within the full limits of the standing orders, and to have the freedom and opportunity to be able to do so.

We wish you well in your service. We acknowledge, indeed, that you follow a long line of successful Presidents and the particular role as the first woman to hold this office from the Australian Labor Party, following Senator Margaret Reid, who had such a distinguished service as a Liberal senator in this place and as President. In wishing you success, we offer you our support for the office, for you to be a strong, fair and independent presiding officer in this place.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Australian Greens, we offer you our congratulations for fulfilling the role of President of the Senate. We look forward to a very productive parliament. We are, of course, saddened that our magnificent First Nations woman, Senator Dorinda Cox, is not sitting up there. We hope that, as the chamber continues to become more diverse, some of these conventions that support the two-party system can also diversify and evolve, and we look forward to a parliament that truly represents the community, including the echelons of those decision-making roles. But we give our heartfelt congratulations to you and particularly recognise you as the first Labor woman to fill that chair. We wish you all the best and we hope that this parliament can address the challenges that the nation faces.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

President, I wish to inform senators that the Governor-General would be pleased to receive the President and senators in the Members Hall at 2.30 pm.

Sitting s uspended from 11:28 to 14:25