The Minns government will be forced to make deals with both the left and right to pass laws in New South Wales, after the state’s upper house finished with an even split of progressive and conservative members.
Already governing in minority in the lower house with 45 out of 93 seats, Labor’s task to negotiate legislation was made harder on Wednesday with final confirmation of the state’s new upper house.
Labor snagged eight new seats to the Coalition’s seven in the legislative council, where 21 of the 42 seats are up for grabs each election, taking the total to 15 each for the major parties.
The Greens secured two spots at the 25 March election, and Legalise Cannabis one, meaning 11 out of 21 seats went to progressive parties. However, the existing members were split 11-10 along conservative lines, meaning the new parliament is evenly divided at 21 each. Unless Labor can convince a conservative minor party representative to take up the presidency, they will be forced to negotiate with conservatives to pass legislation.
Election analyst Ben Raue said even if the government was open to working with all minor players, they may find the smaller parties less willing to work with each other.
“Unless they work with the Coalition, they are going to need minor party members from both sides – the left and the right,” Raue said.
“It is quite messy. Labor works quite well with the Shooters but Animal Justice and the Greens don’t.”
The new upper house will consist of four Greens, two Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, and one member each from Legalise Cannabis, the Liberal Democrats and the Animal Justice party, the latter of which narrowly missed out on securing a seat at this election. The final seat was on Wednesday announced for Liberal candidate Rachel Merton, a former Australian Classification Board member and Perrottet government staffer, who edged out the AJP’s Alison Waters.
One Nation had hoped to pick up two seats on the strength of NSW party leader Mark Latham’s personal following, but the party saw just one further seat secured, taking its total to three.
One Nation has confirmed former Labor MP Tania Mihailuk will take the party’s vacated spot in the upper house after Latham used the vote to be re-elected for another eight years.
The premier, Chris Minns, last month ruled out working with Latham after a homophobic tweet he sent to independent lower house MP Alex Greenwich.
David Clune, an expert in NSW parliament at the University of Sydney, said the Greens’ relationship with Legalise Cannabis may also be muddied by the fact the party’s successful candidate, Jeremy Buckingham, was a former Greens MP.
Buckingham held an upper house seat for the Greens from 2011 until 2018, but quit after he was accused by his former Greens colleague and member for Newtown, Jenny Leong, of sexual harassing a former party staffer. Buckingham denies the allegations.
However, Clune was optimistic that the crossbench holding the balance of power would produce better legislation and aid transparency.
“It’s unlikely bills will get through without being heavily amended and this can often result in better legislation,” he said.
