edited
17th Jun 2021
Motions - Gender Dysphoria - Treating gender diverse children
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a small majority
6 rebellions 76% attendance
Simon Birmingham
Liberal Party Senator for SA since May 2007
Rebels 0.2% of the time explain rebellions 61% attendance explain attendance
Simon Birmingham is Prime Minister in the Senate, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet in the Senate, Minister for the Public Service in the Senate, Treasurer in the Senate, Assistant Treasurer in the Senate, Special Minister of State in the Senate, Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate, and Vice-President of the Executive Council.
How do they vote?
Voted consistently for
- A citizenship test
- A same-sex marriage plebiscite
- An Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC)
- An emissions reduction fund
- Changing the wording of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act
- Charging postgraduate research students fees
- Deregulating undergraduate university fees
- Drug testing welfare recipients
- Getting rid of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates
- Giving apprentices access to a $20,000 loan
- Increasing beef import standards
- Increasing competition in bulk wheat export
- Increasing indexation of HECS-HELP debts
- Increasing parliamentary entitlements for current MPs and Senators
- Increasing scrutiny of unions
- Increasing the cost of humanities degrees
- Increasing the initial tax rate for working holiday makers to 15%
- Increasing the initial tax rate for working holiday makers to 19%
- Increasing the passenger movement charge ('PMC')
- Legalising euthanasia
- Live animal export
- Making Australians working overseas repay their student debts
- Making more water from Murray-Darling Basin available to use
- Privatising the ABC
- Putting welfare payments onto cashless debit cards (or indue cards) on an ongoing basis
- Recognising local government in the Constitution
- Reducing personal income tax
- Senate electoral reform
- Temporary Exclusion Orders
- Temporary protection visas
- The Coalition's new schools funding policy ("Gonski 2.0")
- The Coalition's Youth Jobs PaTH
- The Murray Darling Basin Plan
- The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement
- Turning back asylum boats when possible
- Uranium export
Voted almost always for
Voted generally for
- A declared area offence
- A Free Trade Agreement with China
- Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin
- Australia's timber industry
- Continuing Detention Orders (CDOs)
- Decreasing availability of welfare payments
- Government administered paid parental leave
- Imprisoning immigration detention workers who record or reveal information from their work
- Increasing funding for road infrastructure
- Increasing investment in the coal industry
- Increasing or removing the Government debt limit
- Increasing surveillance powers
- Preventative Detention Orders (PDOs)
- Putting welfare payments onto cashless debit cards (or indue cards) on a temporary basis as a trial
- Regional processing of asylum seekers
- Storing all citizens' telecommunications data for access by government agencies
- Targeting foreign interference in Australia
- The Intervention in the Northern Territory
- Tighter means testing of family payments
- Transgender rights
- Unconventional gas mining
Voted a mixture of for and against
- Buffer zones around abortion clinics
- More scrutiny of intelligence services & police
- Nuclear energy
- Reproductive bodily autonomy
- Same-sex marriage equality
- Speeding things along in Parliament (procedural)
- Suspending the rules to allow a vote to happen (procedural)
- Universal access to abortion services
Voted generally against
- Banning new thermal coal mines
- Creating a federal Anti-Corruption Commission
- Encouraging Australian-based industry
- Equal treatment for all couples
- Increasing accessibility of government data and documents
- Increasing freedom of political communication
- Increasing marine conservation
- Increasing restrictions on gambling
- Increasing scrutiny of asylum seeker management
- Increasing transparency of big business by making information public
- Local community consultation on infrastructure projects
- Protecting Australian sovereignty in trade agreements
- Protecting threatened forest and bushland habitats
- Protecting whistleblowers
- Stopping tax avoidance or aggressive tax minimisation
- The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
- The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
- Tobacco plain packaging
Voted almost always against
- A fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy
- Assisting the Arts sector through the coronavirus pandemic
- Changing the date of Australia Day
- Closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
- Decreasing the gender pay gap
- Doctor-initiated medical transfers for asylum seekers
- Ending immigration detention on Manus Island
- Ending immigration detention on Nauru
- Federal government action on animal & plant extinctions
- Greater public scrutiny of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations
- Implementing refugee and protection conventions
- Increasing consumer protections
- Increasing government support for the dairy industry
- Increasing investment in renewable energy
- Increasing protection of Aboriginal heritage sites
- Increasing protection of Australia's fresh water
- Increasing the foreign aid budget to 0.7% of Gross National Income
- Increasing the Newstart Allowance rate
- Protecting the Great Barrier Reef
- Protecting whales within Australian waters
- Reducing air pollution
- Removing children from immigration detention
- Restricting donations to political parties
- Stopping former ministers from taking lobbying positions within five years
- The use of strong encryption technologies
Voted consistently against
- A carbon price
- A constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice in parliament
- A federal inquiry into Queensland government administration
- A minerals resource rent tax
- A national redress scheme for institutional abuse survivors
- A review of our representatives' eligibility
- A Royal Commission into banking
- An NBN (using fibre to the premises)
- Carbon farming
- Civil celebrants having the right to refuse to marry same-sex couples
- Criminalising "revenge porn"
- Decreasing the private health insurance rebate
- Ending Governor-General allowances for serious misconduct
- Ending illegal logging
- Expanding Medicare-funded dental care
- Extending government benefits to same-sex couples
- Federal action on public housing
- Getting rid of the Gold Travel Pass
- Increasing Aboriginal land rights
- Increasing access to medicinal cannabis products
- Increasing access to the JobKeeper Payment
- Increasing federal government support for childcare
- Increasing funding for university education
- Increasing housing affordability
- Increasing legal protections for LGBTI people
- Increasing penalties for breach of data
- Increasing political transparency
- Increasing the age pension
- Increasing the diversity of media ownership
- Increasing the Youth Allowance rate
- Increasing trade unions' powers in the workplace
- Landholders' right to say no to mining and gas exploration
- Legalising pepper spray
- Letting environmental groups challenge the legality of certain government decisions
- Maintaining or increasing CSIRO funding
- More scrutiny of the Australian Defence Force
- Paid parental leave equality for stay-at-home mums and dads
- Public transport
- Re-approving/ re-registering agvet chemicals
- Refugee family reunification
- Requiring a warrant to access citizens’ telecommunications records
- Requiring Parliamentary approval of military deployments
- Restricting foreign ownership
We can't say anything concrete about how they voted on
- A combined Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
- A publicly accessible foreign ownership register for agricultural land
- A review of parliamentary entitlements
- A Royal Commission into Robodebt
- A Royal Commission into Violence and Abuse against People with Disability
- A travel ban on people from certain countries
- An independent inquiry into Attorney-General Christian Porter
- An independent NDIS assessment process
- An inquiry into the Iraq War
- Assisting Australians trying to return from overseas
- Banning all investment in cluster munitions
- Building Australia’s new submarine fleet in South Australia
- Building community climate change resilience
- Building dedicated quarantine facilities (COVID-19)
- Community right to say no to nuclear waste disposal sites
- Considering legislation to create a federal anti-corruption commission (procedural)
- Extended Supervision Orders (ESOs)
- Extending Jobkeeper Payment
- Funding the national school chaplaincy program
- Giving approval for mining in the Liverpool Plains
- High speed rail on the east coast
- Implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
- Increasing access under Freedom of Information law
- Increasing eligibility requirements for Australian citizenship
- Increasing fishing restrictions
- Increasing funding for legal aid
- Increasing funding for public schools
- Increasing funding for vocational education
- Increasing protections for franchisees
- Increasing state and territory environmental approval powers
- Increasing support for community radio and TV
- Increasing support for the Australian film and TV industry
- Increasing support for the Australian shipping industry
- Increasing the price of tobacco
- Increasing transparency of the China-Australia relationship
- Increasing workplace protections for women
- Investing in climate science
- MacMines' proposed China Stone coal mine in the Galilee Basin
- Maintaining or increasing defence spending
- Making sanitary items GST-free
- Making the cashless debit card program voluntary and not mandatory
- Mandatory minimum sentences for certain offences
- Offshore oil mining
- Pill testing
- Political intervention in research funding grants
- Prioritising religious freedom
- Privatising government assets
- Promoting multiculturalism
- Protecting citizens' privacy
- Putting a time limit on immigration detention
- Reducing the corporate tax rate
- Removing parallel import restrictions for books
- Requiring every native title claimant to sign land use agreements
- Revoking citizenship of dual nationals involved with terrorism offences by the minister
- Strengthening gun control laws
- Technology neutral emission reduction targets
- The Paris Climate Agreement
- Treating the COVID vaccine rollout as a matter of urgency
- Using natural resource wealth for the benefit of all Australians
- Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan
Please note that our voting records start in February 2006.
Rebel votes
Simon Birmingham has voted against the majority of their party 4 times since entering Parliament in May 2007. explain rebellions
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-
edited 17th Jun 2021
Motions - Child Care - Adopt Labor's Cheaper Child Care Plan
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a small majority
6 rebellions 76% attendance
-
edited 24th Aug 2018
Motions - Free Speech - Against gender neutral language
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a modest majority
3 rebellions 59% attendance
-
edited 13th Jul 2018
Motions - Freedom of Speech - Exclusion zone around abortion clinics
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a small majority
1 rebellion 67% attendance
Free votes
Simon Birmingham has taken part in 21 free votes since entering Parliament in May 2007. explain “Free Votes”
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Inclusion in annual reports
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 80% attendance
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Annual report
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 82% attendance
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Introduce threshold
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 80% attendance
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Sections 28F and 28G
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 80% attendance
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Stage 2 licences
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 82% attendance
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Definition of mitochondrial donation licence
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 83% attendance
-
edited 11th Feb 2022
Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Definition of gene technology
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 80% attendance
-
edited 24th Oct 2019
Motions - Abortion - Congratulate NSW
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 68% attendance
-
edited 7th Dec 2018
Documents - Queensland: Abortion - Let a vote happen
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 70% attendance
-
edited 14th Sep 2018
Restoring Territory Rights (Assisted Suicide Legislation) Bill 2015 - Second Reading - Agree with the bill's main idea
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 92% attendance
-
edited 30th Nov 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - Third Reading - Pass the bill
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 76% attendance
-
edited 23rd Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Religious versus civil marriage celebrants
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 74% attendance
-
edited 23rd Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Authorised marriage celebrant
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 74% attendance
-
edited 23rd Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - No obligation to solemnise marriage
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 79% attendance
-
edited 24th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Civil celebrants' right to refuse
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 88% attendance
-
edited 24th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Religious organisations
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 89% attendance
-
edited 24th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Charities
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 88% attendance
-
edited 29th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Defence chaplains
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 86% attendance
-
edited 29th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - "Freedom" amendments
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 89% attendance
-
edited 29th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Religious marriage celebrants
Simon Birmingham voted Yes in this free vote
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 92% attendance
-
edited 29th Dec 2017
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Religious and conscientious protection
Simon Birmingham voted No in this free vote
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 92% attendance
Recent Votes
Recent votes in parliament that this Senator could have attended.
-
edited 12th Apr 2022
Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 - Second Reading - Address workforce shortages
Simon Birmingham was absent
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 72% attendance
-
edited 12th Apr 2022
Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 - Second Reading - Acknowledge crisis
Simon Birmingham was absent
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 72% attendance
-
edited 12th Apr 2022
Data Availability and Transparency Bill 2022 and another - Third Reading - Pass the bills
Simon Birmingham was absent
Passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 49% attendance
Compare Simon Birmingham with someone else
Shows people in order of those who voted always the same as Simon Birmingham (100% agreement) to those who never voted the same (0% agreement).
We only compare those votes where both people attended. This may reveal relationships between people that were previously unsuspected. Or it may be nonsense.
| Agreement | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| 100% | David Van | Liberal Party Senator for Victoria |
| 100% | Paul Calvert | Former Liberal Party Senator for Tasmania |
| 100% | Ian Campbell | Former Liberal Party Senator for WA |
| 100% | Grant Chapman | Former Liberal Party Senator for SA |
| 100% | Sean Edwards | Former Liberal Party Senator for SA |