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Andrew Gee voted very strongly for putting welfare payments onto restricted debit cards

How Andrew Gee voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should put a large proportion of a person's welfare payment onto a debit card that cannot be used for alcohol or gambling and cannot be used to make cash withdrawals

Division Andrew Gee Supporters vote Division outcome

27th Nov 2019, 5:15 PM – Representatives Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition) Bill 2019 - Third Reading - Pass the bill

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The majority voted in favour of a motion to pass the bill in the House, which means it will now be sent to the Senate for their consideration. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a third time.

What does the bill do?

The bill was introduced in order to:

  • establish the Northern Territory (NT) and Cape York area as cashless debit card (CDC) trial areas and transition income management participants in these areas onto the cashless debit card trial in 2020
  • extend the end date for existing CDC trial sites from 30 June 2020 to 30 June 2021 and establish an end date of 30 June 2021 the proposed NT CDC trial site
  • establish an end date for the CDC trial in the Cape York area of 31 December 2021
  • remove the current cap of 15,000 CDC trial participants
  • enable people in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay trial site to volunteer to participate in the trial
  • enable the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to advise a community body when a person has exited the CDC trial and
  • make changes to the CDC trial review and evaluation process.
 Yes Yes (strong) Passed by a small majority

27th Nov 2019, 5:09 PM – Representatives Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition) Bill 2019 - Consideration in Detail - Agree with bill as amended

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The majority voted in favour of a motion "that this bill, as amended, be agreed to." This ends the consideration in detail stage of the bill and means that our MPs can now discuss whether to pass the bill (that is, read it for a third time).

What does the bill do?

The bill was introduced in order to:

  • establish the Northern Territory (NT) and Cape York area as cashless debit card (CDC) trial areas and transition income management participants in these areas onto the cashless debit card trial in 2020
  • extend the end date for existing CDC trial sites from 30 June 2020 to 30 June 2021 and establish an end date of 30 June 2021 the proposed NT CDC trial site
  • establish an end date for the CDC trial in the Cape York area of 31 December 2021
  • remove the current cap of 15,000 CDC trial participants
  • enable people in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay trial site to volunteer to participate in the trial
  • enable the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to advise a community body when a person has exited the CDC trial and
  • make changes to the CDC trial review and evaluation process.
 Yes Yes (strong) Passed by a small majority

27th Nov 2019, 5:03 PM – Representatives Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition) Bill 2019 - Consideration in Detail - Government amendments

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The majority voted in favour of government amendments, which means they will be included in the bill.

For an explanation of what the amendments do, see the Supplementary explanatory memorandum.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 23), after item 3, insert:

3A After subsection 123UO(3)

Insert:

(3A) If:

(a) a voluntary income management agreement in relation to a person is in force; and

(b) the person's usual place of residence is within the Northern Territory;

the Secretary may, by written notice given to the person, terminate the agreement. The termination takes effect on a day specified in the notice (which must not be earlier than the day on which the notice is given).

(2) Schedule 1, item 27, page 10 (after line 8), after paragraph 124PGE(1) (b), insert:

(ba) the person has not reached pension age; and

(3) Schedule 1, item 27, page 10 (after line 25), after paragraph 124PGE(2) (b), insert:

(ba) the person has not reached pension age; and

(4) Schedule 1, item 27, page 11 (after line 17), after paragraph 124PGE(3) (b), insert:

(ba) the person has not reached pension age; and

(5) Schedule 1, item 39, page 14 (line 30), omit "100%", substitute "80%".

(6) Schedule 1, item 39, page 15 (line 2), omit "(including 0%)".

(7) Schedule 1, item 39, page 15 (line 7), omit "100%", substitute "80%".

(8) Schedule 1, item 39, page 15 (line 10), omit "and including 0%".

(9) Schedule 1, item 44, page 19 (after line 2), after paragraph 127(4) (aa), insert:

(aaa) a decision to give a notice under subsection 123UO(3A); or

(10) Schedule 1, item 45, page 19 (after line 10), after paragraph 144(l), insert:

(laa) a decision to give a notice under subsection 123UO(3A);

 Yes Yes Passed by a small majority

27th Nov 2019, 11:36 AM – Representatives Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition) Bill 2019 - Second Reading - Agree with the bill's main idea

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The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree with the main idea of the bill, which means they can now discuss it in more detail. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a second time.

What is the bill's main idea?

The bill was introduced in order to:

  • establish the Northern Territory (NT) and Cape York area as cashless debit card (CDC) trial areas and transition income management participants in these areas onto the cashless debit card trial in 2020
  • extend the end date for existing CDC trial sites from 30 June 2020 to 30 June 2021 and establish an end date of 30 June 2021 the proposed NT CDC trial site
  • establish an end date for the CDC trial in the Cape York area of 31 December 2021
  • remove the current cap of 15,000 CDC trial participants
  • enable people in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay trial site to volunteer to participate in the trial
  • enable the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to advise a community body when a person has exited the CDC trial and
  • make changes to the CDC trial review and evaluation process.
 Yes Yes (strong) Passed by a small majority

27th Nov 2019, 11:26 AM – Representatives Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition) Bill 2019 - Second Reading - Disagree with the bill

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The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion that the bill be read a second time, which is parliamentary jargon for the House agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This means the amendment failed.

Amendment text

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House:

(1) declines to give the bill a second reading;

(2) notes that, 12 years after the Intervention in the Northern Territory, there is no evidence that compulsory broad-based income management has worked to improve outcomes for First Nations people; and

(3) calls on the Government not to expand the cashless debit card, and to instead invest in evidence-based policies, programs and services, including:

(a) job creation and economic development;

(b) education, training and TAFE;

(c) health and rehabilitation services; and

(d) services for women and young people"

 No No (strong) Not passed by a small majority

21st Jun 2018, 12:33 PM – Representatives Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card Trial Expansion) Bill 2018 - Second Reading - Agree with bill's main idea

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The majority voted in favour of the bill's main idea, which is to expand the trials for the cashless debit card to other places.

In parliamentary jargon, this vote was a vote to read the bill for a second time and, because it was successful, means that the House can now discuss the bill in more detail.

What is the bill's main idea?

The bill was introduced to:

  • expand the cashless debit card arrangements to a further trial site, the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay area, to run until 30 June 2020;
  • specify the class of trial participants for the area and increase the total number of trial participants overall to 15 000;
  • provide for an exception from the restrictive trade practices provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 for merchants that implement product level blocking systems to identify that a cashless debit card is being used for payment and, if any restricted products are being purchased, decline the transaction; and
  • limit the use of the restricted portion of a payment to prevent the portion being used to obtain cash-like products which could be used to obtain alcohol or gambling.
 Yes Yes (strong) Passed by a small majority

13th Feb 2018, 4:32 PM – Representatives Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017 - Consideration of Senate Message - Agree with the amendment to pass the bill

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The majority voted in favour of a motion "That the amendment be agreed to." This amendment was introduced by the Senate, who agreed to pass this bill only if the House agreed to it. Since the House has agreed, the bill will now become law.

What was the amendment?

The amendment was introduced by NSW Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (Liberal Party) on behalf of the Government. She explained that:

The government amendment extends the trial of the cashless debit card to 30 June 2019. The amendments also specify that the trial will be limited to three sites—namely, the East Kimberley and the included communities, Ceduna and the surrounding regions, and the Goldfields. The bill retains the existing legislated limitations on trial parameters in relation to the number of sites, participant numbers and the duration of the cashless debit card trial.

 Yes Yes Passed by a small majority

6th Feb 2018, 6:05 PM – Representatives Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017 - Second Reading - Agree with the bill's main idea

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The majority voted in favour of the main idea of the bill, which means that the House can now discuss it in more detail. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a second time.

Main idea of the bill

The bill was introduced to:

remove certain restrictions on the cashless debit card trial and thereby allow the extension of trial arrangements in current sites and to further sites.

Read more about this trial in the bills digest.

 Yes Yes (strong) Passed by a small majority

How "voted very strongly for" is worked out

The MP's votes count towards a weighted average where the most important votes get 50 points, less important votes get 10 points, and less important votes for which the MP was absent get 2 points. In important votes the MP gets awarded the full 50 points for voting the same as the policy, 0 points for voting against the policy, and 25 points for not voting. In less important votes, the MP gets 10 points for voting with the policy, 0 points for voting against, and 1 (out of 2) if absent.

Then, the number gets converted to a simple english language phrase based on the range of values it's within.

No of votes Points Out of
Most important votes (50 points)      
MP voted with policy 6 300 300
MP voted against policy 0 0 0
MP absent 0 0 0
Less important votes (10 points)      
MP voted with policy 2 20 20
MP voted against policy 0 0 0
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 0 0 0
Total: 320 320

*Pressure of other work means MPs or Senators are not always available to vote – it does not always indicate they have abstained. Therefore, being absent on a less important vote makes a disproportionatly small difference.

Agreement score = MP's points / total points = 320 / 320 = 100%.

And then