Verify your nomination
If you have received a call from the apolitical party saying your name has come up, you can verify that the call is genuine by entering the 8-digit code the caller read to you.
You are under no obligation to do anything at this stage. This check simply confirms the call was real. Your decision about whether to accept comes after — and you have time to think about it.
It means the call was genuine — your name was selected from the AEC electoral roll by the mechanism described on our details page. You are not committed to anything. The code simply confirms the call was not a scam or a prank.
If you are interested in proceeding, the next step is a conversation with the party coordinator. They will explain what is involved — the resignation pack, the tenure, what serving actually looks like — and you can ask any questions you have. You have a few days before any formal commitment is required.
If you want to decline, simply say so. Nothing is made public until you formally accept. There is no public record of your name in connection with the nomination at this stage.
This follows the same three phases as the seat's timeline on our details page — onboarding, then service, then offboarding — walked through here for you specifically.
Onboarding — you say yes. You record a short video, in your own words, saying you're willing to serve. Nothing is signed or legally binding at this point. From here, your nomination is public — we announce it, and it's worth celebrating. There's no reason to stay out of view while the formalities catch up.
Onboarding — party membership. Endorsement requires becoming a member of the party — a condition of endorsement, not of your original selection, as set out in the party's constitution. Membership is separate from everything below it: joining doesn't commit you to serve, and stepping back from the nomination later doesn't require you to leave the party.
Onboarding — vetting. Over the following weeks, alongside resolving any section 44 eligibility questions, you get independent legal advice — from a solicitor unconnected to the party — on the resignation pack: the signed resignation letter, the power of attorney, and what each actually commits you to. You sign nothing until you've had that advice and you're satisfied. If you decide not to proceed at this stage, for any reason, that's a completely normal outcome — see "Changing your mind" below.
Onboarding — confirmation. The relevant state parliament verifies your eligibility under section 44. This happens in public, as parliamentary business always does. If vetting went smoothly, this is expected to be a formality. Once the senate sits on any day after your confirmation, you're eligible to enter service — you don't need to attend that sitting yourself; your tenure simply overlaps with it.
Service. You are a senator. You vote freely. No whip. No faction. No career to protect. Your judgment is your own. This is normally the longest phase by far, lasting until a rotation is triggered by the Saturday night XLotto draw — at a time nobody, including you, can predict.
Offboarding. When the draw fires, it doesn't end your tenure on the spot — it starts your successor's onboarding. You keep sitting and voting exactly as before while the next person is selected from the roll and goes through the same steps above: joining the party, resolving eligibility, taking independent legal advice on their own resignation pack, and being confirmed. Only once they're endorsed do you lodge your own resignation — the moment your resignation pack was made for — and their confirmation follows in the same sitting, so the seat passes straight from you to them with no gap.
During onboarding, before confirmation, you can step back at any time, without explaining why. We'll say publicly that after reflection, this wasn't the right time for you — the same respectful, unremarkable language we'd use for anyone at this stage. The mechanism is designed around this: a full bench of alternates means stepping back never leaves a gap, and it's a far better outcome for everyone than a decision made in a rush.
Once you're in service, you can resign your position at any time by writing addressed to the President of the Senate. This creates a casual vacancy that is filled in exactly the same way as if you had rotated out as the longest-serving senator in your state.
If you have questions about the process, the mechanism, or what serving would involve, use the enquiry form or ask the coordinator who contacted you.
"Your seat at our nation's table." — we mean that literally.