Photo of Jeannie Ferris

Jeannie Ferris voted very strongly for encouraging Australian-based industry

How Jeannie Ferris voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should encourage Australian-based industry and secure the jobs these industries create by, for example, providing incentives for companies to stay in Australia

Division Jeannie Ferris Supporters vote Division outcome

6th Sep 2006, 4:14 PM – Senate Motions — Tasmanian Forestry Industry — Campaigns against Tasmanian forestry industry + Illegal timber imports

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The majority voted in favour of motion introduced by Labor Senator Kerry O'Brien, which means that it was successful. The motion related to forestry industry in Tasmania and condemned "the misrepresentation of Gunns Limited by the Rainforest Action Network which has been actively campaigning against Tasmania’s forest industry in its overseas markets, notably Japan". In particular the motion called for:

  • the Government to take urgent measures to address the dishonest campaigns and secondary boycott practices of environmental NGOs being used against the Tasmanian and the Australian forest and forest products industries in their Australian and international markets; and
  • the Government to move quickly and take urgent measures to prevent illegal timber imports into Australia from countries like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and provide a fair and level playing field for Tasmanian and Australian forest products in both their Australian and international markets.
 Yes Yes Passed by a large 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 0 0 0
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* 0 0 0
Total: 10 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 = 10 / 10 = 100%.

And then