edited
2nd Dec 2022
Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 - in Committee - Approval and importation of drugs
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a small majority
8 rebellions 86% attendance
Simon Birmingham
Liberal Party Senator for SA since May 2007
Rebels 0.3% of the time explain rebellions 60% attendance explain attendance
Simon Birmingham is Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
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')
- Live animal export
- Making Australians working overseas repay their student debts
- Making more water from Murray-Darling Basin available to use
- Privatising the ABC
- 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 territories being able to legalise euthanasia
- 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
- Putting welfare payments onto cashless debit cards (or indue cards) on a temporary basis as a trial
- Putting welfare payments onto cashless debit cards (or indue cards) on an ongoing basis
- Regional processing of asylum seekers
- Speeding things along in Parliament (procedural)
- 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
Voted generally against
- A fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy
- 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
- 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 legal protections for LGBTI people
- 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)
- Banning pay secrecy clauses
- 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 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)
- Capping gas prices
- 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
- Increasing workplace protections for women
- Investing in climate science
- Lowering taxes for middle- and high-income earners
- 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
- Net zero emissions by 2035
- Net zero emissions by 2050
- Offshore oil mining
- Pill testing
- Political intervention in research funding grants
- Prioritising religious freedom
- Privatising government-owned assets
- Procedural fairness
- 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 8 times since entering Parliament in May 2007. explain rebellions
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-
edited 2nd Dec 2022
Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 - in Committee - Limitation of power
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a small majority
6 rebellions 82% attendance
-
edited 8th Dec 2022
Committees - Community Affairs References Committee; Reference - Puberty blockers and disproven theory
Simon Birmingham voted No, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Not passed by a small majority
4 rebellions 79% attendance
-
edited 25th Nov 2022
Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 - Second Reading - Agree with bill's main idea
Simon Birmingham voted Yes, rebelling against the Liberal Party
Passed by a small majority
10 rebellions 87% attendance
-
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
-
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.
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edited 16th Dec 2022
Treasury Laws Amendment (Energy Price Relief Plan) Bill 2022 - Adoption of Report - Pass the bill
Simon Birmingham was absent
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 66% attendance
-
edited 16th Dec 2022
Treasury Laws Amendment (Energy Price Relief Plan) Bill 2022 - Adoption of Report - Select Committee on Cost of Living
Simon Birmingham was absent
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 67% attendance
-
edited 16th Dec 2022
Treasury Laws Amendment (Energy Price Relief Plan) Bill 2022 - in Committee - Title change
Simon Birmingham was absent
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 67% 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% | 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 |
| 100% | Chris Ellison | Former Liberal Party Senator for WA |