Summary

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The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

The motion relates to the use of the surveillance program PRISM by the United States National Security Agency.

Learn more on the ABC News program The World Today.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) revelations that the PRISM program has been used by the United States of America's National Security Agency to conduct warrantless real time surveillance via the servers of nine companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook,

(ii) recent reports suggesting that Australian agencies are receiving information through the PRISM program to access emails, audio and video chats, photographs, documents, connection logs and location data of Australians, and

(iii) that strong concerns have been expressed by the United Kingdom's Intelligence and Security Committee, Canada's Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, and the German Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser Schnarrenberger; and

(b) calls on the Attorney General (Mr Dreyfus) to table in Parliament a ministerial statement of explanation before Thursday, 20 June 2013 on the vulnerability of Australian legislated privacy protections and government information to PRISM.

Votes Not passed by a modest majority

Nobody rebelled against their party.

Party Votes
Australian Greens (100% turnout) 9 Yes 0 No
Richard Di Natale Victoria Yes
Sarah Hanson-Young SA Yes
Scott Ludlam WA Yes
Christine Milne Tasmania Yes
Lee Rhiannon NSW Yes
Rachel Siewert WA Yes
Larissa Waters Queensland Yes
Peter Whish-Wilson Tasmania Yes
Penny Wright SA Yes
Australian Labor Party (87% turnout) 0 Yes 26 No
Catryna Bilyk Tasmania No
Mark Bishop WA No
Carol Brown Tasmania No
Doug Cameron NSW No
Bob Carr NSW No
Kim Carr Victoria No
Jacinta Collins Victoria No
Don Farrell SA No
John Faulkner NSW No
David Feeney Victoria No
Mark Furner Queensland No
Alex Gallacher SA No
Sue Lines WA No
Joe Ludwig Queensland No
Gavin Marshall Victoria No
Anne McEwen SA No
Jan McLucas Queensland No
Claire Moore Queensland No
Helen Polley Tasmania No
Louise Pratt WA No
Lisa Singh Tasmania No
Ursula Stephens NSW No
Glenn Sterle WA No
Matt Thistlethwaite NSW No
Lin Thorp Tasmania No
Anne Urquhart Tasmania No
Stephen Conroy Victoria Absent
Trish Crossin NT Absent
Kate Lundy ACT Absent
Penny Wong SA Absent
Nigel Scullion NT Country Liberal Party Absent
John Madigan Victoria Democratic Labor Party Yes
Stephen Parry Tasmania Deputy President No
Nick Xenophon SA Independent Absent
Liberal Party (70% turnout) 0 Yes 19 No
Eric Abetz Tasmania No
Christopher Back WA No
Cory Bernardi SA No
Sue Boyce Queensland No
George Brandis Queensland No
David Bushby Tasmania No
Michaelia Cash WA No
Richard Colbeck Tasmania No
Mathias Cormann WA No
Alan Eggleston WA No
David Fawcett SA No
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells NSW No
Mitch Fifield Victoria No
Gary Humphries ACT No
David Johnston WA No
Helen Kroger Victoria No
Anne Ruston SA No
Arthur Sinodinos NSW No
Dean Smith WA No
Simon Birmingham SA Absent
Sean Edwards SA Absent
Bill Heffernan NSW Absent
Ian Macdonald Queensland Absent
Brett Mason Queensland Absent
Marise Payne NSW Absent
Michael Ronaldson Victoria Absent
Scott Ryan Victoria Absent
National Party (40% turnout) 0 Yes 2 No
Bridget McKenzie Victoria No
John Williams NSW No
Ron Boswell Queensland Absent
Barnaby Joyce Queensland Absent
Fiona Nash NSW Absent
John Hogg Queensland President Absent
Totals (76% turnout) 10 Yes – 48 No