MY Voting record

HOW DO MY VOTES COMPARE?

I have attended 422 divisions during the 47th Parliament. 

So far, I have supported: 

  • 54% of ALP-moved motions; 

  • 48% of Coalition-moved motions; and 

  • 52% of Greens-moved motions.

It’s a privilege to represent the people of Curtin and I work hard to ensure our voice is represented in Parliament. 

As an Independent, I make my own decision on each vote in Parliament.  MPs from the major parties don’t ordinarily have a choice – they must follow their party line. 

You may have heard from the Liberal Party that I support the Greens most of the time. This is not true.

The Liberal Party has cherry picked a particular type of vote and ignored where the motion came from.

This type of attack is exactly what our Curtin community dislikes - no substance and typical game playing.

This is exactly why laws banning lies in political ads are so important.

Most business in the House of Representatives gets passed without votes being recorded. If Members consider a matter controversial, a ‘division’ is called and all Members are required to enter the House and have our votes recorded.  These divisions can be about procedure in the House, taking a position on an issue or passing or amending legislation. 

I have voted against a gag motion (to stop a Member from speaking) 100% of the time because I believe the free and open exchange of ideas is crucial to a well-functioning democracy. 

My approach to legislation 

For divisions about legislation, I assess each Bill according to its intended impact on Curtin and Australia, considering input from Curtin constituents and evidence from experts about the intended and unintended consequences of the Bill.  Often legislation is not perfect and I need to decide whether the flaws justify voting against a Bill. 

Generally, my voting record shows that: 

  • I have voted with the Coalition against the other parties on Divisions relating to industrial relations, small business support and financial accountability; 

  • I have voted with the Greens against the other parties on Divisions relating to climate change and environmental protection and integrity; 

  • I have voted with the Government against the other parties on Divisions relating to climate change, human rights, housing and tax cuts; and 

  • I have voted with other members of the Crossbench against all parties on Divisions relating to integrity and industrial relations. 

If I have successfully negotiated amendments to a Bill, I am more likely to vote for the Bill in its improved form.  

  • Amendments

    I work to improve legislation by meeting with Ministers before legislation is debated in Parliament to negotiate amendments.  If agreed to, these are introduced as Government amendments, so I will support them when they are introduced by the Government. 

    For example, through meetings with the Minister, I successfully negotiated amendments to the Safeguard Mechanism and the Climate Change Bill.

    If not agreed to, I can introduce them into Parliament myself or support amendments proposed by other Members.

    Abstaining

    My aim is to attend every division, but there have been some divisions that I have not attended.  This has been either because I have been absent (I had Covid for a week and missed two sitting days when my son was in hospital) or because I am choosing to abstain.

    I have abstained from a small number of Divisions, usually because the Division is being used for political point scoring, rather than a substantive issue.  For example, a number of motions have been put by the Australian Greens in relation to Gaza that made no mention of the Hamas attack.  Although I agreed with some of the content in them I have abstained from them because of their impact on social cohesion.

You can see how I voted in each division here:

Member – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)

Source of all numbers: Parliamentary Library, 7 November 2024.