Conservative Party leader Cory Bernardi will be one of the six key Senate crossbenchers Scott Morrison will have to rely on to pass any contentious legislation – first up deciding whether 10 million workers get a bigger tax cut.
The Herald Sun reports, Pauline Hanson’s power in the Senate is waning and “the wind’s been knocked out of the sails of One Nation”, according to one of her fellow crossbenchers in the 46th Parliament.
Prime Minister Morrison will most likely need four out of the six crossbenchers to pass legislation if Labor and the Greens don’t support it.
That will boost the power of Senator Cory Bernardi and returning Senator Jacquie Lambie and deliver equal weight to Centre Alliance and One Nation, which both have two senators.
It’s a better position for the Coalition than the last Parliament, where negotiator-in-chief Mathias Cormann was forced to deal with ten crossbenchers.
