Arabic version: اختيار غاتنبي وكورتني لبطاقة مجلس الشيوخ عن تسمانيا

According to ABC News, Tasmanian Liberal Party selectors have chosen Chris Gatenby and former state minister Sarah Courtney as replacements for outgoing senators Wendy Askew and Jonno Duniam. The selections were decided by about 60 Liberal Senate selectors at a meeting in Launceston on Saturday.

Gatenby, a senior adviser to Premier Jeremy Rockliff and a former party president, will head the Liberals’ Senate ticket at the next federal election. Courtney will be second on the ticket. Askew and Duniam said earlier in 2026 that they would not seek preselection, and their departures create casual vacancies that allow the party to appoint replacements rather than hold a by-election.

Gatenby was raised on a farm in northern Tasmania and later lived in Launceston. He has held senior roles in policy development, advocacy and government in Australia and the United Kingdom, and unsuccessfully contested the Bass electorate at the last election. He said his two state-level attempts had given him experience in understanding people’s issues at the doorstep.

Courtney entered the Tasmanian parliament in 2014 and joined cabinet in 2018 under Peter Gutwein. She was Tasmania’s first female primary industries minister and held the health portfolio during the COVID pandemic. Courtney left state politics in 2022. She said her ministerial and industry experience meant she was focused on finding solutions and working with communities and small businesses.

Latrobe councillor and Askew adviser Jacki Martin finished third, while Liberal strategist and pollster Brad Stansfield did not secure a high place on the ticket. Martin has been a Latrobe councillor since 2022. Stansfield was chief of staff to former premier Will Hodgman for eight years and advised the Tasmanian Liberals through state election campaigns from 2014 to 2024.