(Transcript from World News Radio)
The fate of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's political agenda could hinge on the result of the new Senate election to be held in Western Australia.
The High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, has ruled that an unprecedented new election must be held after more than 13 hundred votes were lost in a recount after the September federal election.
Amanda Cavill reports.
West Australian voters will return to the polls to decide once again who will represent them in the Senate.
High Court judge Kenneth Hayne agreed with a petition brought by the Australian Electoral Commission to have the election of six WA senators last September declared void.
The AEC had mislaid 1370 votes in a recount of the West Australian Senate votes.
An independent inquiry by former Federal Police chief Mick Keelty was inconclusive about the fate of the ballot papers, but called for a major overhaul of the AEC's processes.
Three Liberals and one Labor candidate were declared winners of the first four of six seats and the initial count of the final two seats gave wins to Zhenya "Dio" Wang of the Palmer United Party and Labor's Louise Pratt.
But after a recount, the candidates narrowly elected to the fifth and sixth Senate positions were the Australian Sports Party's Wayne Dropulich and Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
All six Senate seats in WA are again up for grabs.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says this new election is a chance for the people in the West to demand the Abbott government keep its promises and create jobs.
"This is a challenge. So I believe the issues in WA go to the cost of living. That is an issue which a lot of people in the West are feeling very strongly. It goes to jobs. We saw a major mining services company in Perth go into insolvency last week. 1300 people - and these weren't construction workers per se and they weren't union membership. These were white collar engineers and draughts people from the Kimberley, from the Pilbara, from the Gascoyne and also working up in Far North Queensland. So it's not just manufacturing that is feeling the heat on jobs. What we need in the West is a debate about the cost of living, strategies for jobs."
Labor's Senator Louise Pratt says the fresh election is an opportunity for West Australian voters to hold Prime Minister Tony Abbott and state Liberal Premier Colin Barnett to account for their broken promises.
Senator Pratt she's confident of being returned to her seat and she believes voters will support Labor.
"Look I'm very confident that electors in Western Australia that Tony Abbott and Colin Barnett are ripping money out of Western Australian schools, they've abandoned the NBN (National Broadband Network), they're now talking about extra Medicare fees and these are issues that Western Australians well understand."
Senator Ludlam, who missed out on re-election by a wafer-thin margin at the first count, but then retained his seat in the recount, says the next election is profoundly important.
He says voters should remember there is a balance-of-power Senate seat in play.
Both Senator Ludlam and the Sports Party's Wayne Wayne Dropulich say they are confident of retaining their seats and they're ready for the fight ahead.
"Ludlam: I've been saying if an election was called the Greens would be ready, and we are ready. We have door knocking teams already fanned out across the city. Dropulich: Oh we'll be campaigning again. Obviously the increased exposure we've had so far, you know in the last five and a half months . I think we'll do better that we did last time."
The AEC has declined to comment on possible election dates.
The election writ will be issued by WA Governor Malcolm McCusker, though Prime Minister Tony Abbott will effectively set the new election date.
The Abbott government will need the support of the new Senate, which starts on July 1, to get its carbon and mining tax repeal bills passed as well as other legislation.
If the Liberal Party loses a seat it would weaken the government's position in the Senate and strengthen the hand of the alliance of minor parties that has developed around the Palmer United Party.
