How
Philip Ruddock
voted compared to someone who believes that
the federal government should introduce plain packaging for tobacco products
Division |
Philip Ruddock |
Supporters vote |
Division outcome |
Show detail
The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Liberal MP Andrew Southcott. This means that the amendment was rejected.
The amendment limited the application of the bill so that "Sections 19 to 21 do not apply in relation to one of the 2 smallest outer surfaces of a cigarette carton to the extent that a trade mark covers the surface."(See the text of sections 19 to 21 as they were at first reading here. ) Dr Southcott explains "The purpose of this amendment is to help small retailers".(Read Dr Southcott's full explanation here. )
One member of parliament, Nationals MP Tony Crook, rebelled and crossed the floor to vote 'aye' with the Government.(Read more about what it means to rebel in our FAQ Section. )
Background to the bill
The bill was introduced with the Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill 2011 to "[prevent] tobacco advertising and promotion of tobacco products and tobacco product packaging by making it an offence to sell, supply, purchase, package or manufacture tobacco products or packaging for retail sale that are not compliant with plain packaging requirements."(Read more about the bill, including its explanatory memorandum and bills digest, here. ) If these two bills succeed, Australia will be the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging.(Read more about plain packaging here, and more about the government's reasons for introducing the bills here.)
References
|
absent
|
No
|
Not passed by a small majority
|
Show detail
The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through here. ) This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bill.
One member of parliament, Nationals MP Tony Crook, rebelled and crossed the floor to vote 'aye' with the Government.(Read more about what it means to rebel in our FAQ Section. )
Background to the bill
The bill was introduced with the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 to amend the Trade Marks Act 1995(Read more about trade mark law in Australia here. ) to ensure "that regulations may be made in relation to the plain packaging of tobacco so that businesses are not prevented from registering new trade marks or from protecting trade marks against infringement".(Read more about the bill, including its explanatory memorandum and bills digest, here. ) If these two bills succeed, Australia will be the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging.(Read more about plain packaging here, and more about the government's reasons for introducing the bills here.)
References
|
absent
|
Yes (strong)
|
Passed by a small majority
|
How "never voted" is worked out
Normally a person's votes count towards a score which is used to work out a simple
phrase to summarise their position on a policy. However in this case
Philip Ruddock
was absent during all divisions for this policy. So, it's impossible to say anything concrete other
than that they have "never voted" on this policy.