Former rugby star David Pocock has made history, becoming the first independent senator in a territory.
This morning, the Australian Electoral Commission confirmed that it had removed former ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja from the second seat in the Senate alongside Labor MP Katy Gallagher.
Pocock, a Conservative and former Wallabies captain, has been scheduled to take his seat since the night of the federal election, but has not officially declared victory, nor has Seselja declared defeat.
Since the ACT and the Northern Territory first elected senators in 1975, all elections have produced the same couple, one Labor senator and one Liberal senator in each jurisdiction.
Pocock will be the first senator in the territory not to be from one of the two main parties.
A focus on climate action and land rights
David Pocock has long been an activist, but only officially revealed his political ambitions in December. (Provided by: Matthew Newton)
Pocock announced his candidacy for the seat in December last year, putting climate action policy and territorial rights at the center of his campaign.
Prior to joining politics, Pocock played professional football for 15 years, playing for the Brumbies and Western Force in Super Rugby from 2006 to 2019, and also represented Australia with the Wallabies.
Pocock has a long history of environmental activism, including being arrested in 2014 for being chained to an excavator in protest of a coal mine in New South Wales.
In addition to climate action, Mr. Pocock also campaigned on land rights, which would allow the ACT the ability to debate and legislate on assisted voluntary death.
He said Mr Seselja’s firm stance on assisted death was obsolete and did not serve the people of Canberra.
“Canberra has changed a lot over the last few decades and we need to be able to make more decisions about what affects us,” he said.
“And we can no longer have a senator arguing against the rights of the territory.”
When he announced his candidacy, he said the choice to run as an independent rather than join an established party was easy, and focused his campaign on a people-led policy aimed at supporting to the canberencs on the political parties.
More to come.
Posted 36 minutes ago, 36 minutes ago, Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 12:23 AM, updated 6 minutes ago, 6 minutes ago, Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 12:52 AM