Summary

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The majority voted in favour of a motion "That the amendments be agreed to." This means that the bill is now passed in its current form in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and so it will now become law.

Isaacs MP Mark Dreyfus (Labor) explained why the Labor Party would not be supporting this motion, while the Government did not make any further contributions on the subject.

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 (49% turnout) 0 Yes 33 No
Anthony Albanese Grayndler No
Anne Aly Cowan No
Tony Burke Watson No
Terri Butler Griffith No
Jim Chalmers Rankin No
Sharon Claydon Newcastle No
Julie Collins Franklin No
Pat Conroy Shortland No
Milton Dick Oxley No
Mark Dreyfus Isaacs No
Joel Fitzgibbon Hunter No
Mike Freelander Macarthur No
Andrew Giles Scullin No
Patrick Gorman Perth No
Luke Gosling Solomon No
Chris Hayes Fowler No
Julian Hill Bruce No
Catherine King Ballarat No
Andrew Leigh Fenner No
Kristy McBain Eden-Monaro No
Brian Mitchell Lyons No
Shayne Neumann Blair No
Julie Owens Parramatta No
Alicia Payne Canberra No
Graham Perrett Moreton No
Joanne Ryan Lalor No
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong No
David Smith Bean No
Anne Stanley Werriwa No
Meryl Swanson Paterson No
Susan Templeman Macquarie No
Anika Wells Lilley No
Tony Zappia Makin No
Sharon Bird Cunningham Absent
Chris Bowen McMahon Absent
Linda Burney Barton Absent
Josh Burns Macnamara Absent
Mark Butler Hindmarsh Absent
Anthony Byrne Holt Absent
Nick Champion Spence Absent
Lisa Chesters Bendigo Absent
Jason Clare Blaxland Absent
Libby Coker Corangamite Absent
Justine Elliot Richmond Absent
Steve Georganas Adelaide Absent
Ed Husic Chifley Absent
Stephen Jones Whitlam Absent
Ged Kearney Cooper Absent
Matt Keogh Burt Absent
Peter Khalil Wills Absent
Madeleine King Brand Absent
Richard Marles Corio Absent
Emma McBride Dobell Absent
Rob Mitchell McEwen Absent
Daniel Mulino Fraser Absent
Peta Murphy Dunkley Absent
Brendan O'Connor Gorton Absent
Clare O'Neil Hotham Absent
Fiona Phillips Gilmore Absent
Tanya Plibersek Sydney Absent
Amanda Rishworth Kingston Absent
Michelle Rowland Greenway Absent
Warren Snowdon Lingiari Absent
Matt Thistlethwaite Kingsford Smith Absent
Kate Thwaites Jagajaga Absent
Maria Vamvakinou Calwell Absent
Tim Watts Gellibrand Absent
Josh Wilson Fremantle Absent
Rebekha Sharkie Mayo Centre Alliance Yes
Mark Coulton Parkes Deputy Speaker Yes
Helen Haines Indi Independent No
Craig Kelly Hughes Independent Absent
Zali Steggall Warringah Independent Absent
Andrew Wilkie Clark Independent Absent
Bob Katter Kennedy Katter's Australian Party Absent
Liberal National Party (20% turnout) 1 Yes 0 No
Angie Bell Moncrieff Yes
Garth Hamilton Groom Absent
Julian Simmonds Ryan Absent
Phillip Thompson Herbert Absent
Terry Young Longman Absent
Liberal Party (52% turnout) 28 Yes 0 No
Katie Allen Higgins Yes
Karen Andrews McPherson Yes
Bridget Archer Bass Yes
Vince Connelly Stirling Yes
Warren Entsch Leichhardt Yes
Paul Fletcher Bradfield Yes
Nicolle Flint Boothby Yes
Josh Frydenberg Kooyong Yes
Celia Hammond Curtin Yes
Greg Hunt Flinders Yes
Sussan Ley Farrer Yes
Gladys Liu Chisholm Yes
Fiona Martin Reid Yes
Tony Pasin Barker Yes
Gavin Pearce Braddon Yes
Christian Porter Pearce Yes
Melissa Price Durack Yes
Rowan Ramsey Grey Yes
Stuart Robert Fadden 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
Tim Wilson Goldstein Yes
Ken Wyatt Hasluck Yes
John Alexander Bennelong Absent
Kevin Andrews Menzies Absent
Russell Broadbent Monash Absent
Scott Buchholz Wright Absent
David Coleman Banks Absent
Peter Dutton Dickson Absent
Trevor Evans Brisbane Absent
Jason Falinski Mackellar Absent
Ian Goodenough Moore Absent
Andrew Hastie Canning Absent
Alex Hawke Mitchell Absent
Luke Howarth Petrie Absent
Steve Irons Swan Absent
Andrew Laming Bowman Absent
Julian Leeser Berowra Absent
Nola Marino Forrest Absent
Melissa McIntosh Lindsay Absent
Scott Morrison Cook Absent
Ben Morton Tangney Absent
Ted O'Brien Fairfax Absent
Dave Sharma Wentworth Absent
James Stevens Sturt Absent
Lucy Wicks Robertson Absent
Rick Wilson O'Connor Absent
Jason Wood La Trobe Absent
Trent Zimmerman North Sydney Absent
National Party (73% turnout) 11 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
Michelle Landry Capricornia Yes
David Littleproud Maranoa Yes
Michael McCormack Riverina Yes
Ken O'Dowd Flynn Yes
Keith Pitt Hinkler Yes
Kevin Hogan Page Absent
Barnaby Joyce New England Absent
Llew O'Brien Wide Bay Absent
Anne Webster Mallee Absent
Tony Smith Casey Speaker Absent
Totals (51% turnout) 42 Yes – 35 No