Martin ran as a Senate candidate for the newly formed Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) in the 2016 federal election, second on the JLN ticket behind party founder and incumbent Senator Jacqui Lambie. The party won enough votes for Lambie to be reelected. However, she resigned in November 2017 during the parliamentary eligibility crisis after discovering that she held dual British-Australian citizenship and was thus ineligible under section 44 of the Constitution of Australia. Due to Lambie being found ineligible by the High Court, the High Court ordered a countback be conducted to fill the seat. After JLN votes above the line flowed to Martin, he was declared elected. Kate McCulloch, an unsuccessful Tasmanian Senate candidate at the 2016 federal election for One Nation, argued that Martin was also constitutionally ineligible because his mayoral role amounted to an "office of profit under the Crown", but the High Court of Australia rejected this challenge and confirmed Martin's eligibility on 6 February 2018.