Two women win Liberal senate spots

While senators Richard Colbeck and David Bushby won the top two spots on the ticket, Ms Chandler has taken the third spot and and Ms Courtney the fourth.

The candidates ran against Launceston Chamber of Commerce office manager Kristen Finnigan, Hobart Alderman Sue Hickey, previous Liberal candidate Jane Howlett, former Bass MHA David Fry and former senior Liberal adviser Don Morris.

Liberal party state director Sam McQuestin said candidates had a table interview and gave a presentation to 66 selectors before the final four were elected through a ballot on Saturday.

``I'm not going to comment on the actual ballot but the presentations that were made by each candidate were of a very high calibre,'' Mr McQuestin said.

``The selectors had to a tough decision to make, certainly in terms of the third and fourth positions and they've come up with a team that I think is excellent and will really advance Tasmania's interests in Canberra.''

He said pre-selection had not been influenced by criticism of a lack of female senators.

``I don't think it's fair to say we haven't had strong female representation, it is great that we have had number of very strong female candidates to choose from and obviously two have been selected, so it's a great outcome,'' he said.

``The Liberal Party has a very broad membership of almost equal gender balance so this is really just reflective of the membership.''

Mr McQuestin said said the party was feeling confident about the candidates' chances in the next federal election.