He said he’d put an application into the High Court to “keep the ball in the air” and remained adamant that Senator Parry had “definitely jumped the gun” in declaring him ineligible for the Senate, due to the Federal Court’s bankruptcy decision. “But it’s never over until the rooster crows.”

On December 7 last year, the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, heard the case referred to it by the Upper House in November to determine whether - as per Section 44 of the constitution - Mr Culleton was eligible to be a candidate at last year’s federal election. The court expressly noted in its judgment that this recount process “would not distort the true legal intent of the voters”, given that 96.04% of the votes Culleton received were actually above-the-line votes for One Nation. The position can be filled through a casual vacancy appointment by One Nation or a recount of votes which could see the person second on One Nation’s WA Senate ticket which is Mr Culleton's brother-in-law Peter Georgiou, subsequently elected. “Today the High Court unanimously held that Rodney Norman Culleton was a person who was convicted and subject to be sentenced for an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer at the time of the 2016 federal election, and therefore was incapable of being chosen as a Senator under s 44(ii) of the Constitution,” the judgment said. In a joint judgment by justices Susan Kiefel, Virginia Bell, Stephen Gageler and Patrick Keane, with a separate judgment by Geoffrey Nettle, the court found at the time of the election Culleton had been convicted and was subject to be sentenced both as a matter of fact and law. Mr Culleton was elected for One Nation at last year’s poll but quit the party to become independent shortly before he was made ineligible for the federal Senate due to a bankruptcy decision handed down in the Federal Court, on December 23 last year. Senate President Stephen Parry has previously advised the WA government that while there was a vacancy in the state’s representation, it would be necessary to wait for the Court of Disputed Returns’ decision before it became apparent how the vacancy should actually be filled. The unanimous full bench decision of the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, puts an end to the former One Nation senator's battle to stay in the upper house, regardless of the outcome of any of his other court battles, which include challenging a Federal Court bankruptcy ruling. The high court ordered that the vacancy created by Culleton’s ineligibility be filled by a special recount of ballots, meaning preferences will flow to voters’ next selection after Culleton.
The High Court of Australia rules that Rod Culleton was ineligible for election as a candidate for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party in Western Australia in the Federal election and is ineligible to serve in the Senate of Australia.