Former Liberal MP Dave Sharma is about to become Senator Sharma after winning an internal party election to fill Marise Payne’s vacant NSW senate seat. There were 10 candidates running for the seat, with the 2 front-runners both endorsed by Liberal leader Peter Dutton… except Sharma wasn’t one of them. His win was something of a surprise, but Dutton later welcomed Sharma to the Senate, saying his “diplomatic and foreign policy expertise will lend considerable weight and wisdom”. Dutton is referring there to Sharma’s previous work as ambassador to Israel from 2013 to 2017. Since then, Sharma held Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat for one term before being replaced by teal candidate Allegra Spender in the 2022 election. We’re coming into the last sitting week of Parliament for the year, so expect plenty more politics…