Wayne Dropulich (born ) is a former member of the

Australian Sports Party The Australian Sports Party was a registered federal political party of Australia formed in 2013 and officially deregistered in August 2015. The party aimed "for every Australian to be involved in sport and recreation to assist in living a health ...

who was elected to the Australian Senate in the final count of the 2013 federal election prior to the Western Australian Senate count being declared void by the Court of Disputed Returns. Dropulich nominated for the special Senate election for Western Australia held on 5 April 2014, but failed to win a seat.

Background

Dropulich, a Perth-based civil engineer and mining project manager who formerly worked at

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

, conceived the idea to form his own political party with the help of friends in early 2013. The former gridiron player for the Australian representative team achieved the required 500 members for his Australian Sports Party to be eligible for party status by asking friends and acquaintances to join. Dropulich has said that he had been in interested in politics his whole life despite having never been a member of a political party. Following his initial election, he received criticism for his non-committal stance towards a range of political issues.

2013 federal election

Although he received only 1,908 first preference votes in the 2013 federal election, under the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

system in place for Senate elections he was able to gain the required 123,304 votes to meet the Senate quota in Western Australia. The Australian Sports Party had been involved in preference swap deals organised by

Glenn Druery Glenn Druery is an Australian political strategist, electoral campaigner and ultra-distance cyclist. He has played a leading role in the electoral success of various micro and minor parties in Australia since the mid-1990s. He acquired a reputat ...

as part of the

Minor Party Alliance The Minor Party Alliance (MPA) is a collaborative undertaking of small Australian political parties, created by Glenn Druery's "Independent Liaison" business, which assists in organising preference meetings and negotiating preference flows between ...

. Initially, Dropulich did not win a seat, but was elected to the Senate upon a recount of the ballots. The

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

admitted to losing a significant number of Western Australian Senate ballots prior to them being counted, which resulted in the election being referred to the High Court sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns. Dropulich spent 114 days as a senator-elect, until the High Court declared void the Western Australian Senate results in February 2014. Dropulich stood again for election on the Australian Sports Party ticket at the Western Australia special Senate election in 2014 but did not win a seat. He subsequently opened his own mortgage-broking business in Perth, Senator Finance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dropulich, Wayne Living people Western Australian politicians Year of birth missing (living people)