Summary

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The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time. In other words, they voted to agree with the bill's main idea. This means they can now discuss it in greater detail.

What does this bill do?

According to the bills digest, the bill includes two schedules. The first is not controversial. It will "allow meetings to be held virtually, to allow documents relating to meetings to be provided and signed electronically and for minutes to be kept electronically" (see the bills digest for more information).

Schedule 2 is very controversial, because it effectively waters down current continuous disclosure provisions, as well as misleading and deceptive conduct provisions, by making it harder to enforce civil penalties against people who allegedly breach these provisions.

According to the bills digest, Schedule 2 will:

  • permanently add a fault element to continuous disclosure civil penalty provisions, so that a person will only be eligible for a civil penalty where they have acted with knowledge, recklessness or negligence in failing to update the market with price sensitive information
  • impose the same fault standard for misleading and deceptive conduct that relates to alleged failure to provide an update with price sensitive information to the market
  • retain the existing standard for administrative penalties, so ASIC can continue to issue infringement notices without proving knowledge, recklessness or negligence. The existing standard is also retained for ASIC’s other non-pecuniary enforcement tools, such as requiring the disclosure of information to the market by obtaining a court order.

Votes Passed by a small majority

Nobody rebelled against their party.

Party Votes
Adam Bandt Melbourne Australian Greens No
Australian Labor Party (79% turnout) 0 Yes 54 No
Chris Bowen McMahon No
Tony Burke Watson No
Linda Burney Barton No
Josh Burns Macnamara No
Mark Butler Hindmarsh No
Terri Butler Griffith No
Jim Chalmers Rankin No
Nick Champion Spence No
Libby Coker Corangamite No
Julie Collins Franklin No
Pat Conroy Shortland No
Milton Dick Oxley No
Justine Elliot Richmond No
Joel Fitzgibbon Hunter No
Mike Freelander Macarthur No
Steve Georganas Adelaide No
Andrew Giles Scullin No
Patrick Gorman Perth No
Chris Hayes Fowler No
Julian Hill Bruce No
Ed Husic Chifley No
Stephen Jones Whitlam No
Ged Kearney Cooper No
Peter Khalil Wills No
Madeleine King Brand No
Andrew Leigh Fenner No
Richard Marles Corio No
Kristy McBain Eden-Monaro No
Emma McBride Dobell No
Brian Mitchell Lyons No
Rob Mitchell McEwen No
Peta Murphy Dunkley No
Shayne Neumann Blair No
Brendan O'Connor Gorton No
Julie Owens Parramatta No
Alicia Payne Canberra No
Graham Perrett Moreton No
Fiona Phillips Gilmore No
Tanya Plibersek Sydney No
Amanda Rishworth Kingston No
Michelle Rowland Greenway No
Joanne Ryan Lalor No
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong No
Warren Snowdon Lingiari No
Anne Stanley Werriwa No
Meryl Swanson Paterson No
Susan Templeman Macquarie No
Matt Thistlethwaite Kingsford Smith No
Kate Thwaites Jagajaga No
Maria Vamvakinou Calwell No
Tim Watts Gellibrand No
Anika Wells Lilley No
Josh Wilson Fremantle No
Tony Zappia Makin No
Anthony Albanese Grayndler Absent
Anne Aly Cowan Absent
Sharon Bird Cunningham Absent
Anthony Byrne Holt Absent
Lisa Chesters Bendigo Absent
Jason Clare Blaxland Absent
Sharon Claydon Newcastle Absent
Mark Dreyfus Isaacs Absent
Luke Gosling Solomon Absent
Matt Keogh Burt Absent
Catherine King Ballarat Absent
Daniel Mulino Fraser Absent
Clare O'Neil Hotham Absent
David Smith Bean Absent
Rebekha Sharkie Mayo Centre Alliance Yes
Mark Coulton Parkes Deputy Speaker Yes
Craig Kelly Hughes Independent Yes
Helen Haines Indi Independent No
Andrew Wilkie Clark Independent No
Zali Steggall Warringah Independent Absent
Bob Katter Kennedy Katter's Australian Party Yes
Liberal National Party (100% turnout) 5 Yes 0 No
Angie Bell Moncrieff Yes
Garth Hamilton Groom Yes
Julian Simmonds Ryan Yes
Phillip Thompson Herbert Yes
Terry Young Longman Yes
Liberal Party (81% turnout) 44 Yes 0 No
John Alexander Bennelong Yes
Katie Allen Higgins Yes
Karen Andrews McPherson Yes
Kevin Andrews Menzies Yes
Bridget Archer Bass Yes
Russell Broadbent Monash Yes
Vince Connelly Stirling Yes
Peter Dutton Dickson Yes
Warren Entsch Leichhardt Yes
Jason Falinski Mackellar Yes
Paul Fletcher Bradfield Yes
Nicolle Flint Boothby Yes
Josh Frydenberg Kooyong Yes
Celia Hammond Curtin Yes
Alex Hawke Mitchell Yes
Greg Hunt Flinders Yes
Steve Irons Swan Yes
Andrew Laming Bowman Yes
Julian Leeser Berowra Yes
Sussan Ley Farrer Yes
Gladys Liu Chisholm Yes
Fiona Martin Reid Yes
Melissa McIntosh Lindsay Yes
Scott Morrison Cook Yes
Ted O'Brien Fairfax Yes
Tony Pasin Barker Yes
Gavin Pearce Braddon Yes
Melissa Price Durack Yes
Rowan Ramsey Grey Yes
Stuart Robert Fadden Yes
Dave Sharma Wentworth Yes
James Stevens Sturt Yes
Michael Sukkar Deakin Yes
Angus Taylor Hume Yes
Dan Tehan Wannon Yes
Alan Tudge Aston Yes
Bert Van Manen Forde Yes
Ross Vasta Bonner Yes
Andrew Wallace Fisher Yes
Lucy Wicks Robertson Yes
Rick Wilson O'Connor Yes
Tim Wilson Goldstein Yes
Ken Wyatt Hasluck Yes
Trent Zimmerman North Sydney Yes
Scott Buchholz Wright Absent
David Coleman Banks Absent
Trevor Evans Brisbane Absent
Ian Goodenough Moore Absent
Andrew Hastie Canning Absent
Luke Howarth Petrie Absent
Nola Marino Forrest Absent
Ben Morton Tangney Absent
Christian Porter Pearce Absent
Jason Wood La Trobe Absent
National Party (80% turnout) 12 Yes 0 No
Darren Chester Gippsland Yes
George Christensen Dawson Yes
Pat Conaghan Cowper Yes
Damian Drum Nicholls Yes
Andrew Gee Calare Yes
David Gillespie Lyne Yes
Barnaby Joyce New England Yes
David Littleproud Maranoa Yes
Michael McCormack Riverina Yes
Ken O'Dowd Flynn Yes
Keith Pitt Hinkler Yes
Anne Webster Mallee Yes
Kevin Hogan Page Absent
Michelle Landry Capricornia Absent
Llew O'Brien Wide Bay Absent
Tony Smith Casey Speaker Absent
Totals (81% turnout) 65 Yes – 57 No