Can two people run for one seat in the Australian Senate?
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The High Court will be asked to decide, after the Australian Electoral Commission told Melbourne friends Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock it would not accept their joint nomination.
University of Canberra Professor and barrister Kim Rubenstein is assembling a team of counsel to represent the women pro bono, to be briefed by solicitors from the Women's Legal Centre ACT.
"There is nothing in the Electoral Act that says job-sharing is not allowed," Professor Rubenstein, a constitutional law expert who ran as an ACT independent candidate for the Senate at the 2022 election, told The Canberra Times.
She argued it would be unconstitutional to interpret the act to prevent job-sharing candidates from nominating and running, denying voters the chance to elect them to represent their electorate.
Ms Bradlow and Ms Bock decided to run together as a single candidate for a Victorian Senate seat after the electorate of Higgins - where they had planned to nominate for a lower house seat - was abolished in a redistribution.
"If it can be done by a CEO, why can't it be done by a senator?" Ms Bradlow told Nine's 60 Minutes.
"We want to show that politics can be done differently for a more inclusive Parliament and for better representation for Australians," Ms Bock said.
The women are in the process of setting up a political party - called the Better Together Party - focused on climate, integrity and cost of living, and have a plan to agree on policies, resolve any disagreements by consulting their constituents, and deal with unforeseen events.
But the AEC wrote to them last month, saying it would be compelled to reject their nomination as the Electoral Act "does not allow two people to nominate for a single Senate or House of Representatives vacancy."
Susan Price, who runs the Women's Legal Centre ACT's employment and discrimination law practice, said the case had implications for women and representative democracy more broadly.
"We think it's important that we have people in those roles who are representative of the broader community," Ms Price said. Being an MP was only available to those who fit into a "hero model of leadership".
"That means there are whole groups of people - not all of whom are women - who are shut out from that opportunity, and that has flow-on effects in terms of decisions that are made about laws," she said.
"Even if we won the legal challenge, it might be the case that they don't get elected. Women got the right to vote in 1902, then it took nearly 40 years for the first women to be elected ... Ultimately, it should be up to the electorate to decide."
The forms to nominate as a candidate for the Senate only have space for one name. The commission said it was "up to the Parliament, and not the AEC, as to whether this requirement is changed".
"The AEC has no opinion on the matter from a social standpoint whatsoever, nor the practicalities of two people performing the role of single senator in a dual capacity," it said in a statement.
"The AEC's position on the matter is purely about the administration of electoral law and federal elections."
The statement said the legislated timeframes of a federal election were "incredibly tight" and that ballot papers would have to be printed and distributed "very soon after the close of candidate nominations".
"Also, if the election was to be held in late May 2025, delays in the election process may impact on the AEC returning the writs before 30 June 2025," it said.
"This may result in delays for incoming senators being able to take their seats."
