45th Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
44th ← → 46th
Parliament House (2017)
30 August 2016 – 11 April 2019
Members	76 senators 150 representatives
Senate Leader	George Brandis (until 20 December 2017) Mathias Cormann (from 20 December 2017)
Senate President	Stephen Parry (until 2 November 2017) Scott Ryan (from 13 November 2017)
House Leader	Christopher Pyne
House Speaker	Tony Smith
Sessions
1st: 30 August 2016 – 4 April 2019
Australia portal

The45th Parliament of Australia was a meeting of the legislative branch of theAustralian federal government, composed of theAustralian Senate and theAustralian House of Representatives. It met inCanberra from 30 August 2016 to 4 April 2019. The2016 general election held on 2 July gave theCoalition of the Liberal and National Parties control of the House, albeit with a slimmermajority than the 44th Parliament, allowing their leaderMalcolm Turnbull to stay in office as the29thPrime Minister of Australia. During the term of the parliament, the government slipped intominority due to defections andby-elections. The leadership of the government also changed during the parliament, whenScott Morrison replaced Turnbull as Liberal Leader and Prime Minister in August 2018. The 45th Parliament was officially prorogued by the Governor-General SirPeter Cosgrove at 8:29 a.m. on 11 April 2019, and the House of Representatives dissolved at 8:30 a.m.^[1]

At the 2016 federal election, in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the incumbent Coalition government was reelected with 76 seats, a majority of one seat. The Labor opposition won 69 seats. Five other MPs were elected to the crossbench, with theGreens, theNick Xenophon Team,Katter's Australian Party, and independentsAndrew Wilkie andCathy McGowan winning a seat each.

This section is an excerpt from2016 Australian House of Representatives election § Australia.[edit]

House of Representatives (IRV) — Turnout 91.01% (CV) —Informal 5.05%^[2]

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party		4,702,296	34.73	+1.35	69	14
	Coalition		5,693,605	42.04	−3.51	76	14
		Liberal Party of Australia	3,882,905	28.67	−3.35	45	13
		Liberal National Party (QLD)	1,153,736	8.52	−0.40	21	1
		National Party of Australia	624,555	4.61	+0.32	10	1
		Country Liberal Party (NT)	32,409	0.24	−0.08	0	1
	Australian Greens		1,385,650	10.23	+1.58	1
	Nick Xenophon Team		250,333	1.85	+1.85	1	1
	Katter's Australian Party		72,879	0.54	−0.50	1
	Palmer United Party		315	0.00	−5.49	0	1
	Others		1,436,023	10.60	+4.78	2 [a]
Total			13,541,101			150
Two-party-preferred vote
	Liberal/National Coalition		6,818,824	50.36	−3.13	76	14
	Australian Labor Party		6,722,277	49.64	+3.13	69	14
Invalid/blank votes			131,722	4.70	−0.86
Total votes			14,262,016
Registered voters/turnout			15,671,551	91.01	–2.22
Source:Federal Election 2016

In the 76-seat Senate, following thedouble dissolution election, the Coalition government was returned with 30 seats, and the Labor opposition obtained 26 seats. The crossbench consisted of 20 senators: the Greens winning 9 seats,One Nation winning 4 seats, the Nick Xenophon Team winning 3 seats, and theLiberal Democratic Party,Derryn Hinch's Justice Party,Family First Party andJacqui Lambie Network each winning one seat.

In the time elapsed between the 2016 election and the following federal election, many parliamentarians resigned from their seats, while some were disqualified by theHigh Court of Australia. Theparliamentary eligibility crisis involvingdual citizenship was responsible for a significant portion of these departures, although the cases ofBarnaby Joyce andJohn Alexander only left brief vacancies due to their prompt returns inby-elections. Some individual parliamentarians also made an impact by changing their party membership or independent status.

• 1 November 2016:Family First SenatorBob Day resigns after his business collapses.^[3]
• 3 February 2017: The High Court finds that independent SenatorRod Culleton (formerly ofOne Nation) was not eligible to be elected underSection 44(ii) of the Constitution due to a criminal conviction.^[4]
• 10 March 2017: One Nation SenatorPeter Georgiou declared elected as a Senator forQueensland by the High Court on acountback to replace Culleton.^[5]
• 26 March 2017: Georgiou sworn in.^[6]
• 5 April 2017: The High Court finds that Bob Day was not eligible to be elected underSection 44(v) of the Constitution due to holding a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the Commonwealth.^[7]
• 19 April 2017: Family First SenatorLucy Gichuhi declared elected as a Senator forSouth Australia by the High Court on a countback to replace Day.^[8]
• 9 May 2017: Gichuhi sworn in.^[9]
• 14 July 2017:Greens Senator and co-deputy leaderScott Ludlam resigns after discovering that he still held New Zealand citizenship, making him ineligible to sit in parliament due toSection 44(i) of the Constitution.^[10]
• 18 July 2017: Greens Senator and co-deputy leaderLarissa Waters resigns after discovering that she held Canadian citizenship by birth, making her ineligible to sit in parliament due to Section 44(i) of the Constitution.^[11]
• 31 July 2017:Liberal SenatorChris Back ofWestern Australia resigns.
• 16 August 2017: LiberalSlade Brockman is appointed as a Senator for Western Australia to replace Back, being sworn in the next day.^[12]
• 27 October 2017: The High Court finds that Greens Senator Scott Ludlam of Western Australia, Greens Senator Larissa Waters of Queensland, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts of Queensland,Nationals Senator and deputy leader of the National PartyFiona Nash of New South Wales, andDeputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party Barnaby Joyce (the member forNew England) were all ineligible to be elected to and sit in Parliament under Section 44(i) of the Constitution, due to all holding foreign citizenship.^[13]
• 31 October 2017:Nick Xenophon Team SenatorNick Xenophon of South Australia resigns.^[14]
• 2 November 2017:President of the Senate and Liberal SenatorStephen Parry ofTasmania resigns after discovering he held British citizenship by descent, making him ineligible to sit in parliament due to Section 44(i) of the Constitution.^[15]
• 10 November 2017: Greens SenatorJordon Steele-John of Western Australia, Greens SenatorAndrew Bartlett of Queensland, and One Nation SenatorFraser Anning of Queensland are declared elected as Senators by the High Court, to replace Ludlam, Waters, and Roberts (respectively).^[16]
• 13 November 2017: Liberal MP John Alexander, the member forBennelong, resigns after discovering he held British citizenship by descent, making him ineligible to sit in parliament due to Section 44(i) of the Constitution.^[17]
• 13 November 2017: Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John of Western Australia, Greens Senator Andrew Bartlett of Queensland, and One Nation Senator Fraser Anning of Queensland (who immediately resigned from the party to sit as an independent) are sworn in as senators to replace Ludlam, Waters, and Roberts (respectively).^[18]
• 14 November 2017:Jacqui Lambie Network SenatorJacqui Lambie resigns after discovering that she held British citizenship by descent, making her ineligible to sit in parliament due to Section 44(i) of the Constitution.^[19]
• 14 November 2017:Rex Patrick of the Nick Xenophon Team is appointed as a Senator for South Australia to replace Nick Xenophon,^[20] being sworn in the next day.^[21]
• 22 November 2017: Nick Xenophon Team SenatorSkye Kakoschke-Moore resigns after discovering that she held British citizenship by descent, making her ineligible to sit in parliament due to Section 44(i) of the Constitution.^[22]
• 2 December 2017:2017 New England by-election held. Former Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, was returned to his former seat after renouncing his New Zealand citizenship.
• 16 December 2017:2017 Bennelong by-election held. Previous Liberal MP for Bennelong John Alexander was returned after renouncing his British citizenship.
• 22 December 2017: The High Court declares LiberalJim Molan elected as a Senator for New South Wales, taking the seat formerly held by Fiona Nash.^[23]
• 25 January 2018: Labor SenatorSam Dastyari of New South Wales resigns due to being the subject of a Chinese-related donations scandal.^[24]
• 1 February 2018: Labor MPDavid Feeney announces his resignation from politics, due to dual citizenship concerns, which takes effect immediately.^[25]
• 17 March 2018:2018 Batman by-election held, whereGed Kearney won, retaining the seat for Labor.^[26]
• 9 May 2018: The High Court rules thatACT Labor SenatorKaty Gallagher is ineligible to be elected to and sit in Parliament under Section 44(i) of the Constitution, due to not renouncing British citizenship in time. Following the ruling, Labor MPsJosh Wilson,Susan Lamb,Justine Keay, and Nick Xenophon Team MPRebekha Sharkie resigns.^[27]

• 12 October 2016:Singaporean Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong addressed a joint sitting of Parliament.
• 14 August 2017:Deputy Prime MinisterBarnaby Joyce announced that he held dual citizenship with New Zealand, becoming the highest-profile victim of thedual citizenship saga.
• 15 November 2017: The result of anationwide postal vote on same-sex marriage was announced, with a majority yes response.
• 26 February 2018:Deputy Prime MinisterBarnaby Joyce resigns as leader of theNational party.Michael McCormack becomes the nextNational leader andDeputy Prime Minister.
• 24 August 2018: Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull resigns as leader of theLiberal Party after a losing aleadership spill. In the subsequent ballotScott Morrison defeatsPeter Dutton 45 votes to 40. Morrison is sworn in as the 30thPrime Minister of Australia later that evening.Josh Frydenberg is appointed Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, replacingJulie Bishop.

• 7 December 2017: TheMarriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 was passed, legalisingsame-sex marriage in Australia.

• 46th Parliament of Australia
• Turnbull government
• Morrison government

• Parliament of Australia

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