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Palmer Party in pole senate position in WA

Clive Palmer's political party is now in prime position to win a Senate seat in Western Australia.

2 min read

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Source: AAP


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Updated counting puts the Palmer United Party's candidate Zhenya Wang and Labor's Louise Pratt back in the race - and that could mean the demise of Greens senator Scott Ludlam.

Following the September 7 poll, it had looked like the Australian Sports Party and its candidate Wayne Dropulich might become an unlikely advocate for the state.

Thanks to a slew of preference deals, the former Australian gridiron representative player, who still plays for a seniors team, had been on track to take his healthy message to Canberra.

But latest predictions from the ABC election tracker has the PUP's Mr Whang in the fifth spot on the WA result, with Ms Pratt set to sneak back into parliament in sixth.

That relegates Mr Ludlam out of the Senate, with the result depending on the outcome of a separate contest between the Australian Christians and the Shooters and Fishers, and the preferences that subsequently flow.

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With more than 89 per cent of ballots counted, the PUP have polled five per cent of the WA primary vote, just 907 primary votes less than the Nationals, who fielded high-profile former AFL star David Wirrpanda as their Senate candidate.

Mr Whang has worked since 2006 for Australian Resources, whose majority shareholder is Mr Palmer.

Ms Pratt has been a Labor member of the Senate since 2008, having previously served as a member of the WA Legislative Council from 2001 to 2007.

But she was controversially bumped off the top of the Labor Senate ticket in WA by former union heavyweight Joe Bullock.


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