Evolution of the 47th Parliament – 2 years Post-Election

Today marks 2 years since the 2022 Federal election, held on 21 May 2022, to elect members of the 47^th Parliament of Australia. The composition of Parliament has evolved since then, with five new Senators and four new Members of Parliament.

In this Nexus Insights Article, we track the evolution of the 47^th Parliament by providing insight into the Parliamentarians who entered the fold post-election.

Part 1 – The House of Representatives

Ms Mary Doyle MP

Electorate: Aston (Victoria)

Party: Australian Labor Party

Change: ALP gain

Ms Doyle has been the member for Aston since 1 April 2023, following a by-election to replace former Liberal member Hon Alan Tudge. Whilst the Aston by-election did not change the balance of power in the House, it was historic – it was the first time that an Australian government won a seat from an opposition party since 1920.

Ms Doyle is a union organiser, having worked for the Finance Sector Union, Health and Community Services Union, Australian Council of Trade Unions and National Tertiary Education Union. She is also a breast cancer survivor. When Ms Doyle ran against Mr Tudge in 2022, she narrowed Aston’s margin down from 10.1% to 2.8%. The 2023 by-election saw a 6.4% swing to the ALP.

Mr Cameron Caldwell MP

Electorate: Fadden (Queensland)

Party: Liberal National Party of Queensland

Change: LNP retains

The Coalition easily retained Fadden in a by-election for the Gold Coast seat in July 2023, following the resignation of Hon Stuart Robert. Mr Caldwell defeated four other nominees in three rounds of voting for the LNP candidacy. Mr Caldwell sits with the Liberal Party in the federal Parliament and, like his predecessor, is affiliated with the Centre-Right faction.

Mr Caldwell served as a councillor on the City of Gold Coast Council for 12 years before his election. During his tenure, he helped deliver the Westfield Coomera Town Centre and Marine Precinct upgrades.

Ms Jodie Belyea MP

Electorate: Dunkley (Victoria)

Party: Australian Labor Party

Change: ALP retains

Ms Belyea was elected to the seat of Dunkley in March 2024 in a by-election, following the passing of Peta Murphy, who recruited Ms Belyea to the Labor Party herself, and was also a member of the Labor Left.

Before her career in politics, Ms Belyea founded the Women’s Spirit Project, a grassroots volunteer-led project on the Mornington Peninsula with a vision to empower and support vulnerable women through fitness, health and wellbeing activities. She has already established herself in the health portfolio, as a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport.

Mr Simon Kennedy MP

Electorate: Cook (New South Wales)

Party: Liberal Party of Australia

Change: LIB retains

In April 2024, Mr Kennedy was elected successor to former Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison, in the south Sydney electorate of Cook. The Australian Labor Party did not contest the seat. Mr Kennedy’s election saw the Coalition’s National Right faction gain from the Centre-Right.

In 2016, Mr Kennedy co-founded McKinsey & Company’s Australian Public Sector Practice. He was an Associate Partner and Partner with the firm for over seventeen years. Prior to his work in Australia, Mr Kennedy spent seven years in Washington D.C., where he advised U.S. Government leaders on restarting the economy after the Global Financial Crisis.

Part 2 – The Senate

Senator Maria Kovacic

State: New South Wales

Party: Liberal Party of Australia

Change: LIB retains

Senator Kovacic was appointed by a joint sitting of the New South Wales Parliament on 31 May 2023, following the passing of Major General Jim Molan AO, DSC on 16 January 2023.

Prior to her appointment, Senator Kovacic was the President of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party. Before that, she was the Liberal candidate for Parramatta in the 2022 federal election. The marginal seat was won by Labor’s candidate and current member, Dr Andrew Charlton MP.

She is the co-founder of Western Sydney Women and before politics, she ran her own financial services business. In her first speech, she described herself as the daughter of Croatian migrants, a small businessperson, and a progressive Liberal.

Senator Dave Sharma

State: New South Wales

Party: Liberal Party of Australia

Change: LIB retains

Senator Sharma began his tenure in the Senate on 30 November 2023, following the resignation of fellow moderate the Hon Marise Payne, Australia’s longest-serving female senator and former Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Senator Sharma was a federal member of Parliament for Wentworth from 2019 to 2022, until Teal Independent candidate Ms Allegra Spender MP won the Sydney seat.

Senator Sharma served as Australia’s Ambassador to Israel from 2013 to 2017. As a career diplomat before entering parliament, he held appointments at the Australian High Commission to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, and as a senior civilian adviser with the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville. He was also the Head of the international division within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 2010-12.

Senator Varun Ghosh

State: Western Australia

Party: Australian Labor Party

Change: ALP retains

Senator Ghosh was pre-selected by WA Labor to fill a casual vacancy caused by the retirement of ‘the Father of Reconciliation’, former Senator Patrick Dodson. Senator Ghosh assumed office on 1 February 2024. He was the first Australian Senator to be sworn in on the Bhagavad Gita.

Before entering politics, Senator Ghosh was an accomplished barrister. His focuses included commercial law, administrative law, industrial relations and employment law. He holds a Master’s in Law from Cambridge University. Having also taught administrative and constitutional law at the University of Western Australia, Senator Ghosh is an advocate for the education sector.

To Be Determined

State: Victoria

Party: Australian Labor Party

Change: ALP retains

A casual vacancy was created in the Senate following the passing of Senator Linda White in February 2024. The position will be filled by the Labor Party.

Senator Stephanie Hodgins-May

State: Victoria

Party: The Greens

Change: GRN retains

In September 2023, former Senator Janet Rice announced that she would not re-contest her Victorian Senate position, a decade on from first being elected to the Senate. She officially resigned on 19 April 2024.

Senator Hodgins-May, the incoming Senator, has a background in environmental law. She was an adviser to the United Nations and the Head of Pacific for Greenpeace. During her tenure, she placed emphasis on working in allyship with Indigenous frontline Pasifika communities for climate justice.

In 2019 and 2022, she was the Greens candidate for the federal electorate of Macnamara. The current member is Mr Josh Burns MP of the Australian Labor Party.

To Be Determined

State: Western Australia

Party: Unknown

Change: Unknown

In February 2024, Senator Louise Pratt announced that she would retire from federal politics at the next election. She will stand down when her term ends in mid-2025. Senator Pratt was first elected to the Federal Senate in 2007, following six years in the WA Legislative Council.

2 years on from the 2022 federal election, 9 of 227 federal Parliamentarians (Members and Senators) have changed.

Notably,  the next Australian federal election will be held on or before 27 September 2025. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives, and likely 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate, will be contested. Thus, the makeup of Australia’s Federal Parliament may be considerably different within the year.