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John Madigan voted very strongly for Australia's timber industry

How John Madigan voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should protect Australia's logging industry and the jobs it represents

Division John Madigan Supporters vote Division outcome

17th Aug 2015 – Senate Motions - Tasmania: Timber Industry - Support

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The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Queensland Senator Barry O'Sullivan (Nationals), which means it succeeded. Motions like these don't make any legal changes on their own, but are politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) That the Tasmanian specialty timber industry accounts for over 2 000 full time equivalent jobs, thousands more part time hobbyists and contributes over $70 million a year to the state's economy,

(ii) the support of both the Tasmanian Premier (Mr Hodgman) and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Green) for the long term sustainability of the iconic specialty timber industry, and

(iii) That the Australian Greens and the Australian Labor Party previously supported the continued low impact harvesting of special species timber in the 2013 extension of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area; and

(b) calls on the Australian Greens to abandon their policy backflip and work with the Tasmanian Government to protect the future of the mostly small scale businesses that produce high value products that embody the essence of Tasmania's culture and history.

 Yes Yes Passed by a small majority

How "voted very strongly for" 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 0 0 0
MP absent 0 0 0
Less important votes (10 points)      
MP voted with policy 2 20 20
MP voted against policy 0 0 0
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 1 1 2
Total: 21 22

*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 = 21 / 22 = 95%.

And then