Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senators, I will take this opportunity to provide an update to the chamber. A short time ago the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, answering questions referred to it by the Senate on 6 December last year, held that Katy Gallagher was incapable of being chosen as a senator for the Australian Capital Territory at the election on 2 July 2016 by reason of section 44(i) of the Constitution. Precedent would suggest that the resulting vacancy will be filled by a special count of the ballot under the supervision of the court. I will table the orders of the court in due course.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Today news has arrived of the decision of the High Court. Of course, the Australian Labor Party will respect the totality of that decision. I only make two points in relation to Senator Gallagher. The first is that she is a woman of great integrity who always acted in accordance with the advice given to her, her understanding of the legal issues, and always acted in good faith. The second point I make is this. Former Senator Katy Gallagher was an outstanding senator and an outstanding representative of the community and the people of the ACT. She is an important part of Labor's Senate leadership team and she's too good to lose.