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Lin Thorp voted very strongly against strengthening gun control laws

How Lin Thorp voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should maintain and strengthen gun control laws and make sure they're the same around Australia

Division Lin Thorp Supporters vote Division outcome

21st Jun 2012, 12:14 PM – Senate Motions - Gun Control - Stregthen uniformity

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The majority voted against a motion, which means it was unsuccessful.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) uniform gun laws were introduced across all states and territories following the ground-breaking work undertaken by the former Prime Minister, Mr Howard, in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre,

(ii) the New South Wales Government has sponsored a two-day ‘Shot Expo’ that promotes guns, knives and pistols, in conjunction with firearm manufacturers, including Beretta, a weapons supplier to the former Gaddafi regime, and

(iii) the New South Wales Government has given its support to a longstanding Shooter and Fishers Party plan to allow recreational hunting with firearms in designated New South Wales national parks;

(b) condemns the New South Wales Government’s plans to allow recreational hunting with firearms in its national parks; and

(c) calls on:

(i) the Federal Government to support the adoption of a global arms trade treaty at the United Nations, and

(ii) the Attorney-General (Ms Roxon) to take the steps required to strengthen uniformity of Australian gun laws.

 No Yes (strong) Not 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 1 0 50
MP absent 0 0 0
Less important votes (10 points)      
MP voted with policy 0 0 0
MP voted against policy 0 0 0
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 0 0 0
Total: 0 50

*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 / 50 = 0.0%.

And then