Photo of Chris Ketter

Chris Ketter voted very strongly for doctor-initiated medical transfers for asylum seekers

How Chris Ketter voted compared to someone who believes that the Federal Government should pass laws that ensure that people seeking asylum who are being held at offshore processing centres will be transferred to Australia for medical attention if more than one doctor say they need it, unless the Home Affairs Minister rejects it for security reasons

Division Chris Ketter Supporters vote Division outcome

13th Feb 2019, 11:05 AM – Senate Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 - Returned from the House of Representatives - Agree with amendments to pass bill

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The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the amendments made by the House of Representatives to the Senate amendments to the bill, which means all the amendments are agreed to and so the bill can now pass.

What does the bill do?

According to the bills digest, the bill was introduced to make various amendments to migration, customs and passenger movement laws, including:

  • clarifying that where the removal of a non-citizen from the migration zone to another country is unsuccessful, a visa is not required to bring the person back to Australia and they remain subject to statutory bars on subsequent visa applications, where applicable;
  • providing that the Minister may make documents available to a person by way of an online account;
  • providing that the Commonwealth may appropriate money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to pay refunds, rebates or drawbacks of customs duty in circumstances where those payments have no other statutory basis; and
  • amending the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act 1978 to specify that regulations may make provision for the charging and recovery of fees in relation to the Passenger Movement Charge.
 Yes Yes (strong) Passed by a small majority

6th Dec 2018, 4:47 PM – Senate Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 - Third Reading - Pass the bill

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The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree with the remaining stages of the bill so that it will be passed with the amendments adopted by the Senate. The bill will now be sent back to House of Representatives, where our MPs will decide whether they agree with the Senate's amendments.

What does the bill do?

According to the bills digest:

The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 (the Bill) is an omnibus Bill which makes various amendments to migration, customs and passenger movement laws. The Bill:

  • amends the Migration Act 1958 to:

  • clarify that where the removal of a non-citizen from the migration zone to another country is unsuccessful, a visa is not required to bring the person back to Australia and they remain subject to statutory bars on subsequent visa applications, where applicable (Schedule 1)

  • provide that the Minister may make documents available to a person by way of an online account (Schedule 2)

  • amends the Customs Act 1901 to:

  • provide that the Commonwealth may appropriate money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to pay refunds, rebates or drawbacks of customs duty in circumstances where those payments have no other statutory basis (Schedule 3)

  • make minor technical amendments (Schedule 5) and

  • amends the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act 1978 to specify that regulations may make provision for the charging and recovery of fees in relation to the Passenger Movement Charge (Schedule 4).
 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 2 100 100
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 0 0 0
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 0 0 0
Total: 100 100

*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 = 100 / 100 = 100%.

And then