Job-sharing Senate candidacy launches legal proceedings in Federal Court
MELBOURNE, 12 FEBRUARY 2025: Trailblazing job-sharing political candidate Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock, yesterday filed an application in the Federal Court to prevent the Australian Electoral Commission from rejecting their nomination to run for a Victorian Senate seat in the upcoming federal election.
Represented by a legal team that includes Emrys Nekvapil SC, Dr Julian Murphy, Professor Kim Rubenstein, and the Women’s Legal Centre ACT, the Application seeks a declaration that the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) does not authorise the Australian Electoral Commissioner to refuse to accept their nomination on the basis that they are two persons making a joint nomination for the place of a single Senator.
“Our case is simple,” says Lucy, a former lawyer and political communications expert with experience on campaigns in Washington, D.C., “There is nothing in the law that precludes two people from running as one Senator. Indeed, the Constitution requires that senators be ‘directly chosen by the people’. If we were to read the Constitution literally we would only be allowed to choose men as our representatives.”
Bradlow and Bock launched their campaign in April last year. Originally running for the seat of Higgins, the two pivoted to the Senate after Higgins was abolished in the Victorian redistribution.
“The fact that we were able to mobilise the support of 1,500 party members in just two months shows how much support there is behind this idea,” says Bock, a mother of three and former investment banker. “Voters want representatives that put their lives, families, and realities first. Australians are tired of the same old political games—they want leaders who genuinely understand their struggles, not politicians controlled by special interests.”
Bradlow adds, “Job-sharing is a well-recognised and utilised approach to bringing in a broader set of leaders in the private and public sectors. We will show that by allowing two people to share a single Senate seat, we can break down barriers that prevent people from participating in politics. This model could transform how Australians experience leadership, offering better representation and more effective decision-making.”
MEDIA CONTACT
Lucy Bradlow, [email protected], 0427 280 390