page_title: Crossbencher
section_title: Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Crossbencher / Australia
caption_attribution_description: Australian Senate, Parliament of Australia, Canberra, Australia
context_page_description: A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and opposition benches, where crossbenchers sit in the chamber.
context_section_description: The term refers to both independent and minor party members in the Federal Parliament of Australia as well as the Parliaments of the Australian states and territories. Unlike the United Kingdom, in Australia the term is applied to those parties and independents in both the lower and upper houses of parliament, who sit on the crossbench.
  The last few federal elections have seen an increase in the size and power of the crossbench in both houses of Parliament. The Australian Parliament as elected at the 2010 election was the first hung parliament in the House of Representatives since the election of 1940, with the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition winning 72 seats each of 150 total. Six crossbenchers held the balance of power: Greens MP Adam Bandt and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor declared their support for Labor on confidence and supply, Independent MP Bob Katter and National Party of Western Australia MP Tony Crook declared their support for the Coalition on confidence and supply. The resulting 76–74 margin entitled Labor to form a minority government.
  The Australian Senate, which uses the Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation to elect its 76-seat chamber, frequently has a number of Senators on the crossbench that the governing party has to negotiate with to get legislation passed. The 2 July 2016 double dissolution election, for example resulted in a chamber with the Liberal/National Coalition having 30 seats, the Australian Labor Party with 26 seats, the Greens with 9 seats, One Nation with 4 seats and the Nick Xenophon Team with 3 seats. The other 4 seats were each won by Derryn Hinch, the Liberal Democratic Party, Family First, and Jacqui Lambie. The number of crossbenchers increased by two to a record 20 (all but the ones of the LPA/NPA coalition and the ALP: 9+4+3+4). The Liberal/National Coalition government required at least nine additional votes to reach a Senate majority.
  Generally speaking, Senators broadly aligned with the government (such as those affiliated with the Australian Conservatives, One Nation, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Derryn Hinch) sit on the same side of the crossbench as the government benches, while those more aligned with the opposition, such as the Greens, sit on the same side of the crossbench as the opposition benches. This tends not to be the case in the House of Representatives, both due to the different electoral system, which means fewer crossbenchers are elected, and the fact that the official government and opposition frontbenches extend across the inner rim of the entire hemicycle.
caption: The Australian Senate. Crossbenchers sit in the seats between the two sides.
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