30
June 2022
PDF version [385 KB]
Lisa
Richards
Politics and Public Administration
Most of the decisions before the
Australian Senate are determined by a vote ‘on the voices’. In these cases, no
record is made of which senators voted for or against the question. Decisions
are generally taken by a vote on the voices when the
question is uncontested, but it is also not unusual for contested questions
to be determined by a voice vote when senators know and accept the way in which
the majority is voting.
A voice
vote involves senators who are present in the chamber calling out ‘aye’ or
‘no’ in response to a question put by the President of the Senate. The
President then declares that the question is agreed to or negatived based on
the voices heard. If no senator in the chamber challenges this declaration,
then the question is agreed
to or negatived on the voices without a record of who voted. If only one
senator dissents, their vote may be recorded.
Individual senators’ votes are recorded during a formal vote
(division). Divisions
only occur when requested by more than one senator present in the chamber and
can only be requested by senators deemed by the President to be in the
minority. When a question is put and a division
is called for, the President instructs the Clerk to ring the bells for four
minutes ‘to enable senators to assemble in the chamber’. After the bells have
stopped and chamber doors locked, the senators present divide into two groups—those
voting ‘aye’ and those voting ‘no’ to the question put—so that their vote and
name may be recorded. If there is only one senator voting on one side during a
division, the count is abandoned, the President declares the result immediately
and only the name of the senator in the minority is recorded.
Not all senators attend the chamber to vote in every
division that is held. Where a senator is absent from a vote, they will not
appear in the record of the division. Senators may be absent from a vote for a
variety of reasons, including: being on leave or paired
(an arrangement between major parties); abstaining from a vote; or
participating remotely (by video link). In addition, by leave (with permission
of the Senate) senators in the minority may have their votes recorded without
proceeding to a division. This
practice usually relates to senators who are absent from the chamber and
was used extensively during March and April 2020, when the number of senators
attending the Chamber was reduced to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
Notably, the President of the Senate is entitled
to a vote on all questions before the Senate, with all tied votes being
negatived (see section
23 of the Constitution). By contrast, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives may only cast a vote in order to decide the outcome when the
numbers in a division are equal (see section
40 of the Constitution).
The Coalition Government did not hold a majority in the
Senate during the 46th Parliament and relied on crossbench support whenever the
Opposition (ALP) dissented. As such, the voting records of crossbench senators
received particular attention during the 46th Parliament.
This Quick Guide provides statistics on the voting records
of the Senate crossbench during divisions held in the 46th Parliament. Such
statistics on divisions provide an incomplete record of Senate votes, given
they do not include votes on the voices or occasions where a division was
abandoned. This factor should be considered when interpreting divisions data.
Breakdown of divisions
There were 1,258
divisions in the Senate during the 46th Parliament. The following breakdown
of division categories is based on an analysis of the divisions, which in some
cases is a matter of interpretation.
The most common type of divisions were motions on Bills
(40%), which include:
- 25% substantive amendments to Bills (amendments to the content of
a Bill)
-
15% first reading, second reading and third reading motions (e.g.
that a Bill be read a second time) and amendments to second reading motions
Opinion motions accounted for 26% of divisions. These are motions
that ‘seek the Senate's endorsement on an issue of domestic or foreign
policy, or recognition of a particular achievement or event’.
The approximate portion of other motions that went to a
division include:
The remaining divisions were on a variety of procedural
matters and other motions not listed.
Crossbench
Crossbench senators of the 46th Parliament were (*did not
serve the full-term):
Australian Greens
Other minor parties/Independents
Senator Sam McMahon
became a member of the crossbench after resigning from the Country Liberal
Party (Coalition Government) on 7 April 2022. However, her voting record
has not been included because no divisions were held while she served as a
crossbencher.
Senate voting records during 46th
Parliament divisions
Table 1 and Figure 1 show how often the crossbench
voted with and against the Government and Opposition on all divisions
held during the 46th Parliament—including on legislation, proposed committee
inquiries, urgency motions, etc.
Table 1: Crossbench votes
during all 46th Parliament divisions (no.)
|
Voted with Gov |
Voted against Gov |
Voted with Opp |
Voted against Opp |
Voted with Gov and Opp |
Voted against Gov and Opp |
| Greens |
70 |
1,187 |
796 |
462 |
57 |
449 |
| Bernardi |
204 |
10 |
86 |
128 |
82 |
6 |
| Griff |
293 |
536 |
554 |
276 |
158 |
141 |
| Patrick |
322 |
769 |
719 |
373 |
182 |
233 |
| Lambie |
453 |
535 |
613 |
376 |
229 |
152 |
| PHON (Hanson) |
756 |
248 |
415 |
590 |
272 |
105 |
| PHON (Roberts) |
755 |
249 |
416 |
589 |
272 |
105 |
(a)
Where split votes occurred, the majority
side has been counted. The 1 evenly split Government vote has been excluded.
(b)
Senators Hanson and Roberts votes
were split during 2 divisions and are therefore listed separately.
(c)
Senator Patrick’s voting data
includes the Centre Alliance voting record when he was a member (2 July 2019–August 2020).
Source: Parliamentary Library calculations based on Senate Statsnet
divisions data.
Figure 1:
Crossbench votes during all 46th Parliament divisions (%)
(a)
Voting percentages are based off
the total amount of divisions attended.
(b)
Where split votes occurred, the
majority side has been counted. The 1 evenly split Government vote has been
excluded.
Source: Parliamentary Library calculations based on Senate Statsnet
divisions data.
Table 2 provides the number and proportion of divisions
attended by crossbench Senators.
Table 2: Divisions attended in
the Senate during the 46th Parliament
| Senator |
Divisions attended (no.) |
Divisions absent (no.) |
Divisions attended (%) |
Divisions absent (%) |
| Greens |
1,258 |
0 |
100.0% |
0.0% |
| Bernardi |
214 |
77 |
73.5% |
26.5% |
| Griff |
830 |
428 |
66.0% |
34.0% |
| Patrick |
1,092 |
166 |
86.8% |
13.2% |
| Lambie |
989 |
269 |
78.6% |
21.4% |
| PHON (Hanson and Roberts) |
1,005 |
253 |
79.9% |
20.1% |
(a)
Includes divisions attended by at
least one PHON senator.
(b)
Includes divisions attended by at
least one Centre Alliance senator during the period when Senators Griff and
Patrick both represented the party (2 July 2019–9 August 2020).
(c)
The percentages for Cory Bernardi
are based off the 291 divisions held while he was a 46th Parliament senator
(2 July 2019–20 January 2020), not the total amount of divisions held overall
(1,258).
Source: Parliamentary Library calculations based on Senate Statsnet
divisions data.
Government (Coalition) and
Opposition (ALP)
The Government and Opposition voted against each other
during 751 divisions (59.7%) and with each other during
506 divisions (40.3%).
Split votes/floor crossings
The Government vote was split during 30 divisions (at least
one Government MP ‘crossed the floor’ to vote against the Government’s
position). Of these 30 divisions, 16 were related to the Mitochondrial
Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021, which were free votes.
The Opposition’s vote was split only during the 16 free vote
divisions related to the Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill
2021. Unlike
the Liberal Party and the Nationals, the ALP formally bind their members to
support party positions except where a free vote is designated.
Divisions data
The Excel spreadsheet below contains Senate voting records
by party/Independent for divisions held during the 46th Parliament. This data
has been extracted from the Senate’s Statsnet
website, the accuracy of which cannot be guaranteed by the Parliamentary
Library.
For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament.
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