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Patrick Dodson voted very strongly against reducing the corporate tax rate

How Patrick Dodson voted compared to someone who believes that the federal government should reduce the corporate (or company) tax rate for all corporations (not just for small business)

Division Patrick Dodson Supporters vote Division outcome

7th Dec 2017, 4:08 PM – Senate Motions - Taxation - Cuts for Australian companies

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The majority voted against a motion introduced by Senator Cory Bernardi (SA), which means it failed.

Senator Fraser Anning (Qld) voted 'Yes' to this motion against the rest of his party, which voted 'No'. This is known as crossing the floor.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that the Trump Administration has succeeded in passing, through both Houses of the Congress of the United States of America (US), over USD$1 trillion in company tax cuts over 10 years, including a cut in the corporate tax rate from 35% to potentially 20%;

(b) expresses concern that these US company tax cuts will affect Australian companies' global competitiveness;

(c) also notes the Australian Department of Treasury research, published earlier this month, revealing that if Australia's corporate tax rate was cut from 30% to 25% by 2026, there would be $30 billion in additional company tax revenue due to stronger economic growth, and increased GST revenue from additional consumer spending;

(d) further notes the recent comments of the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry supporting Australian company tax cuts; and

(e) supports tax relief for Australian companies to ensure our companies remain globally competitive.

 No Yes Not passed by a small 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 0 0 0
MP absent 0 0 0
Less important votes (10 points)      
MP voted with policy 0 0 0
MP voted against policy 1 0 10
Less important absentees (2 points)      
MP absent* 0 0 0
Total: 0 10

*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 / 10 = 0.0%.

And then