Photo of Cory Bernardi

Cory Bernardi voted very strongly for getting rid of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates

How Cory Bernardi voted compared to someone who believes that there should be no penalty rates when employees work on Sundays or public holidays

Division Cory Bernardi Supporters vote Division outcome

4th Dec 2017, 10:49 AM – Senate Fair Work Amendment (Repeal of 4 Yearly Reviews and Other Measures) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Penalty rates

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The majority voted in favour of amendments moved by Labor Senator Doug Cameron.

There was one rebel in this division with One Nation Senator Fraser Anning (Qld) crossing the floor to vote against the rest of his party.

What are the amendments?

Senator Cameron explained that:

These amendments effectively mirror the private member's bill introduced into the House by Mr George Christensen. The effect is to restore penalty rates to the level they were at before the cuts commenced on 1 July. The commencement date of these amendments has the effect of restoring penalty rates from the date this bill comes into operation. This means there will be no back-pay liability for businesses who, in reducing the penalty rates they have been paying since 1 July, have been following the law. We cannot restore the wages that have been lost to workers between 1 July and now because of this government's refusal to support my penalty rates bill, which did pass this place in time to stop the cuts. These amendments give this parliament the chance to stop the cuts now and going forward.

 No No (strong) Passed by a small majority

30th Mar 2017, 12:50 PM – Senate Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take-Home Pay) Bill 2017 - Third Reading - Pass the bill

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The majority voted to pass the bill in the Senate. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a third time.

The bill will now go to the House of Representatives, where our Members of Parliament (MPs) will decide whether or not they will also pass the bill so that it can become law.

What does the bill do?

The purpose of the bill is to make sure that penalty rates can't be reduced if it means that there will be a reduction in the take-home pay of an employee.

This bill is a response to a Fair Work Commission ruling that "Sunday and public holiday penalty rates will be reduced for full-time and part-time workers in the hospitality, retail and fast-food industries".

 No No (strong) Passed by a small majority

21st Mar 2017, 4:02 PM – Senate Motions - Workplace Relations - Penalty relates

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The same number of Senators voted for and against the motion introduced by Labor Senator Doug Cameron, which means it failed. The motion related to a Fair Work Commission ruling that "Sunday and public holiday penalty rates will be reduced for full-time and part-time workers in the hospitality, retail and fast-food industries".

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the decision of the Fair Work Commission, in relation to penalty rates in matter AM2014/305, will result in reductions to the take home pay of up to 700,000 workers employed in retail, hospitality and pharmacies, and

(ii) in its decision, the Fair Work Commission found that reductions in penalty rates will cause hardship to employees affected by the decision; and

(b) expresses its opposition to reductions in penalty rates that reduce the take home pay of Australian workers now and in the future.

 No No Not passed

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 1 10 10
MP voted against policy 0 0 0
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 1 1 2
Total: 111 112

*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 = 111 / 112 = 99%.

And then