How Ursula Stephens voted compared to someone who agrees that the federal government should introduce legislation and regulations that protect and conserve Australia's marine ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef

Most important divisions relevant to this policy

These are the most important divisions related to the policy “for increasing marine conservation” which Ursula Stephens could have attended. They are weighted much more strongly than other divisions when calculating the position of Ursula Stephens on this policy.

Division Ursula Stephens Supporters vote
no votes listed

Other divisions relevant to this policy

These are less important divisions which are related to the policy “for increasing marine conservation” which Ursula Stephens could have attended.

Division Ursula Stephens Supporters vote

16th Jun 2014, 5:54 PM – Senate Documents - World Heritage Committee - Protect the Fitzroy Delta, Keppel Bay, north Curtis Island and northern section of the reef

absent Yes

9th Dec 2013, 4:26 PM – Senate Motions - Kangaroo Island - Reject seismic testing proposal

No Yes

13th Nov 2013, 4:08 PM – Senate Motions - Great Barrier Reef - Reject the Abbot Point coal port expansion proposal

No Yes

26th Jun 2013, 4:14 PM – Senate Motions - Marine Parks - Support Goverment's network of marine parks

Yes Yes

20th Jun 2013, 12:15 PM – Senate Motions - Environment - Amend environment laws

absent Yes

17th Jun 2013, 3:57 PM – Senate Motions - Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area - Maintain heritage status

No Yes

22nd Mar 2012, 1:56 PM – Senate Motions - Great Barrier Reef - Oppose offshore dumping

No Yes

22nd Mar 2012, 1:53 PM – Senate Motions - Mining - Moratorium on coal seam gas

No Yes

22nd Mar 2012, 1:50 PM – Senate Motions - Marine Conservation - Moratorium on issuing oil and gas leases

No Yes

10th Nov 2011 – Senate Motions - Great Barrier Reef - Suspend applications and approvals until after UNESCO assessment

No Yes

9th Nov 2011 – Senate Motions - Coral Sea - Declare marine national park

absent Yes

9th Nov 2011 – Senate Motions - Great Barrier Reef - Suspend applications and approvals until after UNESCO assessment

No Yes

27th Aug 2008, 5:01 PM – Senate Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 - Referral to Committee

No No

27th Aug 2008, 4:08 PM – Senate Motions - Gunns Pulp Mill - Provide the report on potential marine impact

No Yes

21st Jun 2007, 8:40 PM – Senate Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment Bill 2007 - In Committee - extend boundaries of Park to EEZ

absent Yes

30th Mar 2006, 4:18 PM – Senate Motions - Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - Add to endangered list

Yes Yes

How "voted generally against" is worked out

They Vote For You gives each vote a score based on whether the MP voted in agreement with the policy or not. These scores are then averaged with a weighting across all votes that the MP could have voted on relevant to the policy. The overall average score is then converted to a simple english language phrase based on the range of values it's within.

When an MP votes in agreement with a policy the vote is scored as 100%. When they vote against the policy it is scored as 0% and when they are absent it is scored half way between the two at 50%. The half way point effectively says "we don't know whether they are for or against this policy".

The overall agreement score for the policy is worked out by a weighted average of the scores for each vote. The weighting has been chosen so that the most important votes have a weighting 5 times that of the less important votes. Also, absent votes on less important votes are weighted 5 times less again to not penalise MPs for not attending the less important votes. Pressure of other work means MPs or Senators are not always available to vote – it does not always mean they've abstained.

Type of vote Agreement score (s) Weight (w) No of votes (n)
Most important votes MP voted with policy 100% 25 0
MP voted against policy 0% 25 0
MP absent 50% 25 0
Less important votes MP voted with policy 100% 5 3
MP voted against policy 0% 5 9
MP absent 50% 1 4

The final agreement score is a weighted average (weighted arithmetic mean) of the scores of the individual votes.

Average agreement score = sum(n×w×s) / sum(n×w) = 17.0 / 64 = 27%.

And then this average agreement score