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Josh Frydenberg voted very strongly against increasing access under Freedom of Information law

How Josh Frydenberg voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should amend freedom of information (FOI) legislation to increase public access to government data and documents

Division Josh Frydenberg Supporters vote Division outcome

1st Mar 2011, 8:25 PM – Representatives National Broadband Network Companies Bill 2010 — Consideration in Detail — Freedom of information

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The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull, which means that it was rejected.

The amendment would have made the NBN Co a prescribed authority for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 so that it is not obliged to produce certain documents, such as commercially confidential documents, trade secrets and legal documents.(Read Mr Turnbull's full explanation of his amendment here, after 8:09 pm. )

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced to establish a regulatory framework for ownership, governance and operation of the NBN Co and its subsidiary corporations.(Read more about the bill in its bills digest. ) It was introduced along with the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network Measures-Access Arrangements) Bill 2010.(Read more about that related bill in its bills digest.)

The NBN Co was created to build and operate the National Broadband Network ('NBN'), a key Labor Government policy.

 Yes No Not passed by a small majority

How "voted very strongly against" 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 0 0 0
MP voted against policy 0 0 0
MP absent 0 0 0
Less important votes (10 points)      
MP voted with policy 0 0 0
MP voted against policy 1 0 10
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 0 0 0
Total: 0 10

*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 = 0 / 10 = 0.0%.

And then