Photo of Malcolm Roberts

Malcolm Roberts voted very strongly against increasing federal government support for child care

How Malcolm Roberts voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should increase financial support for childcare and early childhood eduction by, for example, supporting increased wages for workers and providing grants for not-for-profit community child care initiatives

Division Malcolm Roberts Supporters vote Division outcome

7th Sep 2017, 12:26 PM – Senate Motions - Child Care - Acknowledge work & increase pay

Show detail

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, which means it wasn't passed. The motion concerned early childhood education and care and the people who work in the industry.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges:

(i) the important work early childhood educators and childcare staff around the country do in helping care for our young children,

(ii) that early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a critical component of lifelong learning,

(iii) that ECEC workers are trusted and skilled carers and educators, and

(iv) that ECEC educators and staff, earning as low as $21 per hour, are underpaid for the important job they dedicate their lives to; and

(b) supports:

(i) the early childhood educators and workers taking part in the largest walk-off industrial action on 7 September 2017, and

(ii) a 35 per cent pay increase to ECEC educators' and workers' salaries.

 No Yes Not passed by a large 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