Summary

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The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through here. ) This means that the majority agree that the bill should be passed in the Senate. As it has already passed in the House of Representatives,(See that division here. ) the bill will now become law.

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced to allow the federal government to sell its interest in Medibank Private Limited and allow Medibank to operate on a “for profit” basis. The Coalition Government plans to do this after the 2007 election, should it be re-elected.(Read more about this privatisation proposal on Wikipedia here and on the ABC's World Today program here.)

Votes Passed by a small majority

Nobody rebelled against their party.

Party Votes
Australian Democrats (75% turnout) 0 Yes 3 No
Lyn Allison Victoria No
Andrew Bartlett Queensland No
Natasha Stott Despoja SA No
Andrew Murray WA Absent
Australian Greens (100% turnout) 0 Yes 4 No
Bob Brown Tasmania No
Christine Milne Tasmania No
Kerry Nettle NSW No
Rachel Siewert WA No
Australian Labor Party (81% turnout) 0 Yes 22 No
Mark Bishop WA No
Carol Brown Tasmania No
George Campbell NSW No
Chris Evans WA No
John Faulkner NSW No
Michael Forshaw NSW No
Annette Hurley SA No
Steve Hutchins NSW No
Linda Kirk SA No
Joe Ludwig Queensland No
Kate Lundy ACT No
Anne McEwen SA No
Jan McLucas Queensland No
Claire Moore Queensland No
Helen Polley Tasmania No
Robert Ray Victoria No
Nick Sherry Tasmania No
Ursula Stephens NSW No
Glenn Sterle WA No
Ruth Webber WA No
Penny Wong SA No
Dana Wortley SA No
Kim Carr Victoria Absent
Stephen Conroy Victoria Absent
Trish Crossin NT Absent
Gavin Marshall Victoria Absent
Kerry O'Brien Tasmania Absent
Nigel Scullion NT Country Liberal Party Yes
John Hogg Queensland Deputy President No
Steve Fielding Victoria Family First Party No
Liberal Party (84% turnout) 27 Yes 0 No
Eric Abetz Tasmania Yes
Cory Bernardi SA Yes
George Brandis Queensland Yes
Ian Campbell WA Yes
Grant Chapman SA Yes
Richard Colbeck Tasmania Yes
Helen Coonan NSW Yes
Alan Eggleston WA Yes
Chris Ellison WA Yes
Alan Ferguson SA Yes
Jeannie Ferris SA Yes
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells NSW Yes
Mitch Fifield Victoria Yes
Bill Heffernan NSW Yes
David Johnston WA Yes
Rod Kemp Victoria Yes
Ross Lightfoot WA Yes
Ian Macdonald Queensland Yes
Nick Minchin SA Yes
Stephen Parry Tasmania Yes
Kay Patterson Victoria Yes
Marise Payne NSW Yes
Michael Ronaldson Victoria Yes
Santo Santoro Queensland Yes
Judith Troeth Victoria Yes
Russell Trood Queensland Yes
Amanda Vanstone SA Yes
Judith Adams WA Absent
Guy Barnett Tasmania Absent
Gary Humphries ACT Absent
Brett Mason Queensland Absent
John Watson Tasmania Absent
National Party (100% turnout) 5 Yes 0 No
Ron Boswell Queensland Yes
Barnaby Joyce Queensland Yes
Sandy Macdonald NSW Yes
Julian McGauran Victoria Yes
Fiona Nash NSW Yes
Paul Calvert Tasmania President Yes
Totals (86% turnout) 34 Yes – 31 No