Martin ran as a Senate candidate for the newly formed
Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) in the
2016 federal election, second on the JLN ticket behind party founder and incumbent Senator
Jacqui Lambie. The party
won enough votes for Lambie to be reelected. However, she resigned in November 2017 during the
parliamentary eligibility crisis after discovering that she held dual British-Australian citizenship and was thus ineligible under
section 44 of the Constitution of Australia. Due to Lambie being found ineligible by the High Court, the High Court ordered a
countback be conducted to fill the seat. After JLN votes above the line flowed to Martin, he was declared elected. Kate McCulloch, an unsuccessful Tasmanian Senate candidate at the 2016 federal election for
One Nation, argued that Martin was also constitutionally ineligible because his mayoral role amounted to an "
office of profit under the Crown", but the
High Court of Australia rejected this challenge and confirmed Martin's eligibility on 6 February 2018. Lambie expected Martin to immediately resign, which would have cleared the way for her to be appointed to fill the resulting casual vacancy and return to the Senate. She claimed that "personal morality" and loyalty dictated that Martin stand down. A party spokesman contended that Tasmanians intended for Lambie to hold the seat, and there was "an opportunity for that vote to be restored" if Martin resigned. When Martin refused to do so, Lambie expelled him later in the week. He resigned as Mayor of Devonport on 9 March 2018. On 26 June 2018, Martin moved a motion calling for the
AFL to commission business plans for the
inclusion of a Tasmanian team in the men's and women's national league. At the time Senator Martin did so with the support of Coalition and Labor senators. Martin wants to reestablish a Nationals branch in Tasmania, where the party has historically not done well;
it has only existed sporadically since Federation. He stood for re-election at the
2019 federal election, with
The Sydney Morning Herald reporting that the Nationals are "throwing a modest level of resources behind his bid". He was not successful, polling just over one percent of the statewide Senate vote. Martin was later elected as a councillor in
Devonport at the
2022 Tasmanian local elections, giving the party an elected representative for the first time since he lost re-election. ==References==