Summary

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A small majority voted against a motion to introduce the bill into the Senate for consideration. In other words, they voted against giving the bill a first reading. This means the bill will not be considered any further.

What is the main idea of the bill?

The bill would have removed anti-discrimination protections from trans and gender-diverse people by removing the term "gender identity" from the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and defining "man" as "a member of the male biological sex irrespective of age" and "woman" as "a member of the female biological sex irrespective of age". Note that this may also have had the effect of removing anti-discrimination protections for intersex people and possibly other men and women with nontraditional gender presentations.

Reasons for this division

It is rare for bills to be rejected by division on the first reading, as explained by Tasmanian Senator Jonathon Duniam (Liberal), when explaining why the Coalition would be voting in favour of a first reading:

While the Senate has the opportunity to reject a bill at the first reading stage, in practice the first reading is almost always passed without opposition and is regarded as a purely formal stage. The coalition supports these normal procedures, as we have with many Greens, Labor and other crossbench bills that we have had opposition to.

The normal process enables bills to be fairly considered and debated by the Senate before a substantive decision is taken, and it should only be deviated from in the most extreme of circumstances lest we deny the right of senators to even have matters debated. As in all cases, a vote on the first reading should not be taken as a position on the substantive legislation, especially where a bill has not had the opportunity to be subject of a normal internal process.

ACT Senator Katy Gallagher (Labour) then explained why the Labour Party were voting against giving it a first reading:

I wasn't going to make a statement but, following on from Senator Duniam's contribution—he is correct in many of his remarks—we have also chosen not to support the first reading on matters that are extremely serious and do cause significant division and harm in the community. The Senate has chosen when that is appropriate, and it is very rare to not support the first reading. Certainly the government believes that this bill falls into that category, and we will be opposing the first reading of this bill.

The division, the hurt, the pain that that causes for gender-diverse members of the community is real, and the sooner the Senate realises that and takes responsibility for causing that harm the better. We should not be allowing something like this to come into this chamber. We have to stand up and support all members of our community.

Votes Not passed by a small majority

Nobody rebelled against their party.

Party Votes
Australian Greens (100% turnout) 0 Yes 11 No
Penny Allman-Payne Queensland No
Dorinda Cox WA No
Mehreen Faruqi NSW No
Sarah Hanson-Young SA No
Steph Hodgins-May Victoria No
Nick McKim Tasmania No
Barbara Pocock SA No
David Shoebridge NSW No
Jordon Steele-John WA No
Larissa Waters Queensland No
Peter Whish-Wilson Tasmania No
Australian Labor Party (72% turnout) 0 Yes 18 No
Tim Ayres NSW No
Carol Brown Tasmania No
Anthony Chisholm Queensland No
Raff Ciccone Victoria No
Lisa Darmanin Victoria No
Katy Gallagher ACT No
Varun Ghosh WA No
Nita Green Queensland No
Karen Grogan SA No
Jenny McAllister NSW No
Deborah O'Neill NSW No
Helen Polley Tasmania No
Louise Pratt WA No
Tony Sheldon NSW No
Jana Stewart Victoria No
Anne Urquhart Tasmania No
Jess Walsh Victoria No
Murray Watt Queensland No
Catryna Bilyk Tasmania Absent
Don Farrell SA Absent
Malarndirri McCarthy NT Absent
Fatima Payman WA Absent
Marielle Smith SA Absent
Glenn Sterle WA Absent
Penny Wong SA Absent
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price NT Country Liberal Party Yes
Andrew McLachlan SA Deputy President Yes
David Pocock ACT Independent No
Lidia Thorpe Victoria Independent Absent
David Van Victoria Independent Absent
Jacqui Lambie Network (100% turnout) 1 Yes 1 No
Jacqui Lambie Tasmania Yes
Tammy Tyrrell Tasmania No
Liberal National Party (100% turnout) 2 Yes 0 No
Matthew Canavan Queensland Yes
James McGrath Queensland Yes
Liberal Party (70% turnout) 16 Yes 0 No
Alex Antic SA Yes
Wendy Askew Tasmania Yes
Slade Brockman WA Yes
Michaelia Cash WA Yes
Claire Chandler Tasmania Yes
Jonathon Duniam Tasmania Yes
David Fawcett SA Yes
Sarah Henderson Victoria Yes
Hollie Hughes NSW Yes
Kerrynne Liddle SA Yes
Matt O'Sullivan WA Yes
James Paterson Victoria Yes
Gerard Rennick Queensland Yes
Linda Reynolds WA Yes
Paul Scarr Queensland Yes
Dave Sharma NSW Yes
Simon Birmingham SA Absent
Andrew Bragg NSW Absent
Richard Colbeck Tasmania Absent
Jane Hume Victoria Absent
Maria Kovacic NSW Absent
Anne Ruston SA Absent
Dean Smith WA Absent
National Party (75% turnout) 3 Yes 0 No
Perin Davey NSW Yes
Susan McDonald Queensland Yes
Bridget McKenzie Victoria Yes
Ross Cadell NSW Absent
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party (100% turnout) 2 Yes 0 No
Pauline Hanson Queensland Yes
Malcolm Roberts Queensland Yes
Sue Lines WA President No
Ralph Babet Victoria United Australia Party Yes
Totals (78% turnout) 27 Yes – 32 No