Photo of Penny Wright

Penny Wright voted very strongly against decreasing availability of welfare payments

How Penny Wright voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should limit the availability of government social security payments

Division Penny Wright Supporters vote Division outcome

17th Nov 2014, 11:40 AM – Senate Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 6) Bill 2014 - Second Reading - Agree with the main idea of the bill

Show detail

The majority supported the main idea of the bill, which means the senators can now discuss the bill in more detail. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a second time.

Main idea of the bill

The bill introduces the Social Services Portfolio budget measures that Labor has expressed support for (and so therefore have a chance of being passed).

What are the budget measures in this bill?

The bills digest describes the measures in detail. Most of the changes related to either ending indexation of certain allowances and supplements or limiting the overseas portability periods for certain payments and pensions.

Background to the bill

The measures in this bill were originally included in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) Bill 2014 and the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) Bill 2014. These bills didn't get beyond the second reading stage in the Senate so the Government decided to split the measures into four bills (see ABC's The World Today), including this one.

 No Yes Passed by a modest majority

2nd Sep 2014, 2:17 PM – Senate Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2014 — Third Reading — Read a third time

Show detail

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the bill, as amended, is passed in the Senate. It will now be returned to the House of Representatives so that they can consider the Senate's amendments.

Background to the bill

This bill was introduced following the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 (No. 2) being laid aside because it could not "be progressed in its current form".(Read more about this bill being set aside here. The division which resulted in that bill being laid aside is available here. )

This bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax as well as related measures such as the low income superannuation contribution, the income support bonus and the schoolkids bonus. The bill also revises the capital allowances for small business entities and the superannuation guarantee charge percentage increase.(Read more about the changes made in the bill in the explanatory memorandum. ) Under the previous Labor government, the superannuation was set to increase to 12 per cent by 2019 (as of 1 July 2014, it is at 9.5 per cent).(Read more about superannuation in Australia here.) However, this bill will push that rise up until 1 July 2025.

 No Yes Passed by a small majority

2nd Sep 2014, 1:51 PM – Senate Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2014 — Reference to Committee — Adjustments to the changes made by the bill

Show detail

The majority voted in favour of government amendments, which means that they were successful. The amendments make the following changes. They:

  • "further adjust the proposed amended timetable for increasing the superannuation guarantee (SG) charge percentage to 12 per cent by pausing the SG rate at 9.5 per cent for financial years up to and including 2020-21. The SG charge percentage will then increase by half a percentage point each year, until it reaches 12 per cent for years starting on or after 1 July 2025;
  • change the repeal date for the low income superannuation contribution (LISC) so that it applies to concessional contributions made for the 2017-18 financial year and later financial years;
  • change the repeal date for the income support bonus (ISB) to 31 December 2016 and make minor technical and consequential amendments as a result of the delayed repeal; and
  • change the repeal date of the schoolkids bonus (SKB) to 31 December 2016, and apply an income test for payments of the bonus between Royal Assent of the Bill and the new repeal date."(Read more about these amendments here.)

Background to the bill

This bill was introduced following the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 (No. 2) being laid aside because it could not "be progressed in its current form".(Read more about this bill being set aside here. The division which resulted in that bill being laid aside is available here. )

This bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax as well as related measures such as the low income superannuation contribution, the income support bonus and the schoolkids bonus. The bill also revises the capital allowances for small business entities and the superannuation guarantee charge percentage increase.(Read more about the changes made in the bill in the explanatory memorandum. ) Under the previous Labor government, the superannuation was set to increase to 12 per cent by 2019 (as of 1 July 2014, it is at 9.5 per cent).(Read more about superannuation in Australia here.) However, this bill will push that rise up until 1 July 2025.

 No Yes Passed by a small majority

23rd Jun 2014, 12:46 PM – Senate Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Child Care Measures) Bill 2014 - Second Reading - Read a second time

Show detail

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bill and that they can now consider it in more detail.

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced primarily to amend the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 in order to:

  • maintain the indexation pause on the Child Care Rebate (CCR) limit at $7500 for three years from 1 July 2014; and
  • maintain the Child Care Benefit (CCB) income thresholds at the amounts applicable as at 30 June 2014 for three years from 1 July 2014.

Normally, the CCR limit and CCB income test thresholds are indexed on an annual basis to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). These measures constitute a freeze on the annual indexation of these amounts.(Read more about these measure in the bills digest. )

The Government announced this freeze on the indexation of the CCB income test threshold in the 2014–15 Budget. It is part of a broader measure that affects the indexation of income test thresholds for major welfare payments.(Read more about the background to the bill in the bills digest.)

 No Yes (strong) Passed by a modest majority

5th Mar 2014, 12:47 PM – Senate Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 - Third Reading - Read a third time

Show detail

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the bill and that it has now passed in the Senate. It will now be sent back to the House of Representatives for them to consider whether they agree with the amendments made in the Senate.

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced to make a number of key changes. These include:

There are several other measures introduced by this bill that can be explored in its bills digest.

Most of the measures are savings measures that had been announced by the previous Labor Government in the 2013–14 Budget, the 2012–13 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) or the 2012–13 Budget. However, the gambling reform measures, the Cape York Welfare Reform measures and the changes to Paid Parental Leave arrangements(Read about the changes to Paid Parental Leave arrangements in the bills digest.) are newly proposed by the current Government.

 No Yes (strong) Passed by a modest 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 2 0 100
MP absent 0 0 0
Less important votes (10 points)      
MP voted with policy 0 0 0
MP voted against policy 3 0 30
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 0 0 0
Total: 0 130

*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 / 130 = 0.0%.

And then