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:

• committee-related motions: referral of matters to a committee (including bills), motions to establish a new committee, and Selection of Bills Committee motions (8%)
• suspension of standing orders (6%)
• orders for the production of documents (5%)
• closure of debate (4%)
• disallowance motions (3%)
• urgency motions (2%)

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

• Mehreen Faruqi (NSW)
• Larissa Waters (Qld)
• Sarah Hanson-Young (SA)
• Nick McKim (Tas)
• Peter Whish-Wilson (Tas)
• Janet Rice (Vic)
• *Richard Di Natale (Vic)
• *Lidia Thorpe (Vic)
• *Dorinda Cox (WA)
• *Rachel Siewert (WA)
• Jordon Steele-John (WA)

Other minor parties/Independents

• Pauline Hanson (Qld, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation)
• Malcolm Roberts (Qld, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation)
• *Cory Bernardi (SA, Independent)
• Stirling Griff (SA, Centre Alliance)
• Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance, Independent)
• Jacqui Lambie (Tas, Jacqui Lambie Network)

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.)

Figure 1: Crossbench votes during all 46th Parliament divisions (%)

Table 2 provides the number and proportion of divisions attended by crossbench Senators.

Table 2: Divisions attended in the Senate during the 46th Parliament

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.

• 46th Parliament voting records in the Senate [excel]

• Licence

  © Commonwealth of Australia

  

  Creative Commons

  With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.

  In essence, you are free to copy and communicate this work in its current form for all non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to the author and abide by the other licence terms. The work cannot be adapted or modified in any way. Content from this publication should be attributed in the following way: Author(s), Title of publication, Series Name and No, Publisher, Date.

  To the extent that copyright subsists in third party quotes it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

  Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of the publication are welcome to webmanager@aph.gov.au.

• Disclaimer

  This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament using information available at the time of production. The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.

  For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament. All links are correct at the time of publication and are not subsequently updated.

  Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian at webmanager@aph.gov.au. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. To access this service, clients may contact the author or the Library‘s Central Entry Point for referral.

Related

FlagPost

‘Just terms’, native title and the territories: Commonwealth of Australia v Yunupingu

By Dr Edward Fellows, Jonathan Mills

5 min read

Research Paper

Japan’s new security strategy: intentions and implications

By Dr Adam Broinowski

32 min read

FlagPost

Where are school funding negotiations up to?

By Dr Emma Vines

5 min read