Australia's new youngest senator elected at 21 with unexpected win

A woman who turned 21 on the day of Australia’s federal election in May has been declared the nation’s youngest ever senator.

A woman who turned 21 on the day of Australia’s federal election in May has been declared the nation’s youngest ever senator.

And like many female candidates who run for election in Australia, Charlotte Walker wasn’t expected to win.

The former union official won the governing center-left Labor Party’s third Senate seat for the state of South Australia in a complicated rank order voting system. A party’s third choice rarely wins.

She had the lowest vote count of the six newly elected senators for the state. The Australian Electoral Commission officially declared the poll Tuesday.

The new job will be a “big adjustment,” said Walker, who starts her six-year term July 1. A federal lawmaker’s base salary is more than 205,000 Australian dollars ($133,000) annually.