When the 1998 federal election was announced for 3 October, Hill was initially encouraged by Hanson to stand as the One Nation candidate for the House of Representatives in the Division of Oxley, but she declined. Instead she stood for the Senate in Queensland. Hill was the first of five One Nation candidates on the ballot paper, and she received 295,903 votes, enough to fill one quota (the required number of votes needed to be elected under the Single Transferable Vote system). Accordingly, she was declared a Senator-elect, with her term due to commence on 1 July 1999.