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
Simon Birmingham
Liberal Party Senator for SA since May 2007
Rebels 0.085% of the time explain rebellions 68% attendance explain attendance
Simon Birmingham is Minister for Trade, and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate.
How do they vote?
Voted very strongly 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
- Decreasing ABC and SBS funding
- 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 funding for road infrastructure
- Increasing indexation of HECS-HELP debts
- Increasing parliamentary entitlements for current MPs and Senators
- Increasing scrutiny of unions
- 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
- Maintaining or increasing defence spending
- Making Australians working overseas repay their student debts
- Making more water from Murray-Darling Basin available to use
- Outsourcing government services
- Privatising the ABC
- Recognising local government in the Constitution
- Reducing personal income tax
- Reducing the corporate tax rate
- Removing parallel import restrictions for books
- Senate electoral reform
- Technology neutral emission reduction targets
- Temporary Exclusion Orders
- Temporary protection visas
- The Coalition's new schools funding policy ("Gonski 2.0")
- The Coalition's Youth Jobs PaTH
- The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement
- Turning back asylum boats when possible
- Uranium export
Voted strongly for
- Australia's timber industry
- Live animal export
- Prioritising religious freedom
- Privatising government assets
- Voluntary student union fees
Voted moderately for
- A declared area offence
- A Free Trade Agreement with China
- Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin
- Buffer zones around abortion clinics
- Continuing Detention Orders (CDOs)
- Decreasing availability of welfare payments
- Giving approval for mining in the Liverpool Plains
- Government administered paid parental leave
- Imprisoning immigration detention workers who record or reveal information from their work
- Increasing investment in the coal industry
- Increasing or removing the Government debt limit
- Increasing surveillance powers
- Offshore processing for people seeking asylum in Australia
- Preventative Detention Orders (PDOs)
- Putting welfare payments onto restricted debit cards
- 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
- Unconventional gas mining
Voted a mixture of for and against
- A publicly accessible foreign ownership register for agricultural land
- Creating a federal Anti-Corruption Commission
- Ending immigration detention on Manus Island
- More scrutiny of intelligence services & police
- Same-sex marriage equality
- Speeding things along in Parliament (procedural)
- Suspending the rules to allow a vote to happen (procedural)
- The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
- Trans rights
- Using natural resource wealth for the benefit of all Australians
Voted moderately against
- A Royal Commission into Violence and Abuse against People with Disability
- Changing the date of Australia Day
- Encouraging Australian-based industry
- Ending immigration detention on Nauru
- Equal treatment for all couples
- Implementing refugee and protection conventions
- Increasing Aboriginal land rights
- Increasing access under Freedom of Information law
- Increasing accessibility of government data and documents
- Increasing fishing restrictions
- Increasing freedom of political communication
- Increasing funding for legal aid
- Increasing marine conservation
- Increasing protection of Aboriginal heritage sites
- Increasing restrictions on gambling
- Increasing scrutiny of asylum seeker management
- Increasing the foreign aid budget to 0.7% of Gross National Income
- Increasing transparency of big business by making information public
- Landholders' right to say no to mining and gas exploration
- Local community consultation on infrastructure projects
- Protecting Australian sovereignty in trade agreements
- Protecting the Great Barrier Reef
- Protecting threatened forest and bushland habitats
- Protecting whistleblowers
- Public transport
- Restricting donations to political parties
- Stopping tax avoidance or aggressive tax minimisation
- Strengthening gun control laws
- The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
- The use of strong encryption technologies
- Tobacco plain packaging
- Treating government action on climate change as a matter of urgency
- Universal access to abortion services
Voted strongly against
- A fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy
- A review of our representatives' eligibility
- An inquiry into the Iraq War
- Banning new thermal coal mines
- Building Australia’s new submarine fleet in South Australia
- Government action on animal & plant extinctions
- Greater public scrutiny of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations
- Increasing funding for university education
- Increasing government support for the dairy industry
- Increasing investment in renewable energy
- Increasing protection of Australia's fresh water
- Increasing the Newstart Allowance rate
- Investing in climate science
- Pill testing
- Reducing air pollution
- Removing children from immigration detention
- Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan
Voted very strongly against
- A carbon price
- A federal inquiry into Queensland government administration
- A minerals resource rent tax
- A national redress scheme for institutional abuse survivors
- A review of parliamentary entitlements
- 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 gender pay gap
- Decreasing the private health insurance rebate
- Doctor-initiated medical transfers
- 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
- For increasing the Youth Allowance rate
- Getting rid of the Gold Travel Pass
- High speed rail on the east coast
- Increasing access to medicinal cannabis products
- Increasing consumer protections
- Increasing federal government support for child care
- Increasing housing affordability
- Increasing legal protections for LGBTI people
- Increasing penalties for breach of data
- Increasing political transparency
- Increasing support for community radio and TV
- Increasing the age pension
- Increasing the diversity of media ownership
- Increasing trade unions' powers in the workplace
- 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
- Protecting whales within Australian waters
- 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
- Stopping former ministers from taking lobbying positions within five years
Has never voted on
- A travel ban on people from certain countries
- Banning all investment in cluster munitions
- Building community climate change resilience
- Community right to say no to nuclear waste disposal sites
- Funding the national school chaplaincy program
- Increasing the price of tobacco
- Increasing transparency of the China-Australia relationship
- MacMines' proposed China Stone coal mine in the Galilee Basin
- Making sanitary items GST-free
- Making the cashless debit card program voluntary
- Political interference in research funding
- Promoting multiculturalism
- Protecting citizens' privacy
- Putting a time limit on immigration detention
- Requiring every native title claimant to sign land use agreements
- Revoking citizenship of dual nationals involved with terrorism offences by the minister
- The Paris Climate Agreement
- The right to protest
Please note that our voting records start in 2006.
Rebel votes
Simon Birmingham has voted against the majority of their party 2 times since entering Parliament in May 2007. explain rebellions
Free votes
Simon Birmingham has taken part in 14 free votes since entering Parliament in May 2007. explain “Free Votes”
-
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 13th Dec 2019
Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Special Operations and Special Investigations) Bill 2019 - Third Reading - Pass the bill
Simon Birmingham voted Yes
Passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 59% attendance
-
edited 13th Dec 2019
Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Special Operations and Special Investigations) Bill 2019 - Third Reading - Retroactive application
Simon Birmingham voted Yes
Passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 59% attendance
-
edited 13th Dec 2019
Australian Crime Commission Amendment (Special Operations and Special Investigations) Bill 2019 - Third Reading - Sunset clause
Simon Birmingham was absent
Not passed by a modest majority
No rebellions 58% attendance
Possible Friends
Shows which Senators voted most similarly to this one in the 2004-2007 Parliament. This is measured from 0% agreement (never voted the same) to 100% (always voted the same). Only votes that both Senators attended are counted. This may reveal relationships between Senators that were previously unsuspected. Or it may be nonsense.
| Agreement | Name | State | Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | John Watson | Tasmania | Liberal Party |
| 99% | Grant Chapman | SA | Liberal Party |
| 99% | Kay Patterson | Victoria | Liberal Party |
| 98% | Alan Ferguson | SA | whilst President |
| 98% | Paul Calvert | Tasmania | whilst Liberal Party |