Australia’s political parties tend to have very strong internal discipline, with Members of Parliament exercising a ‘conscience vote’ very rarely. We saw an example of this last Thursday when the NSW Legislative Assembly considered Clover Moore’s bill to legalise adoption for same-sex couples.
The vote split 46 to 44, passing with the narrowest of margins. The bill will progress to the Legislative Council this week, where it is expected to pass.
The current make-up of the NSW Legislative Assembly includes 50 Labor MPs, 24 Liberals, 13 Nationals and six independents. Despite the numbers being similar, the vote did not break down at all along party lines, with many Labor MPs voting no and many Liberal MPs voting yes.
Three members did not vote: independent Speaker Richard Torbay from the northern electorate of Northern Tablelands, NSW minister Kevin Greene and Leader of the House John Aquilina.
On the ALP side, 29 voted yes, 19 voted no and two did not vote. Out of Kristina Keneally’s rapidly-shrinking thirteen-member cabinet, only two, Virginia Judge and Phil Costa, voted no, with Kevin Greene not voting. For what it’s worth, former minister Paul McLeay voted yes. Excluding these votes, the remainder of the Labor Caucus was much more evenly divided, 19-17.
Amongst Liberal MPs, the vote was very even. Eleven MPs voted yes, with thirteen voting no. Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell and his deputy Jillian Skinner both voted yes, but out of the ten Liberal shadow ministers, only four voted yes, with six voting no. Both Victor Dominello and Stuart Ayres, who have won seats off the ALP in by-elections since 2008, voted yes.
The Nationals skewed very strongly in the no camp. Only Nationals deputy leader Adrian Piccoli and Member for Orange Richard Turner voted yes. Eleven other Nationals voted no.
Four of the six independents voted yes: Dawn Fardell in Dubbo, Greg Piper in Lake Macquarie, Peter Besseling in Port Macquarie and of course Clover Moore in Sydney. Member for Tamworth Peter Draper voted no, with Torbay in his role as Speaker not voting.
There weren’t particularly strong trends in terms of geography. Members in metropolitan seats favoured yes 33-28, with two abstentions. Regional members favoured no 16-13, with one abstention. Within Sydney, a solid block of members for seats in central Sydney voted yes, including Labor MPs for Balmain, Marrickville, Canterbury, Rockdale, Heffron, Maroubra and Coogee, along with the Liberal member for Vaucluse and Clover Moore in Sydney.
Across Western Sydney, there were 13 no votes and 11 yes votes. All four Central Coast MPs voted no, while most MPs in the Hunter voted yes. Coalition MPs in the north of the state, from Upper Hunter to Tweed, all voted no. But in the south of the state, Coalition MPs in seats such as South Coast, Goulburn, Murrumbidgee, Wagga Wagga and Orange.
All three members for the Central West seats of Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo voted yes.
I’ve also produced a number of maps showing which way MPs voted, with each seat coloured green for yes, red for no, or orange for did not vote.
Also should note that within the ALP, the Left all voted in favour. Would be interesting to see the relationship between the right wing ALP members and geography.
The member of Orange is Russell Turner, not Richard. Second and third last paragraphs may need a little editing too.
Excellent maps of course.
Oz,
I’d be very interested in a map of left/right factions in NSW but don’t have a definitive list of which faction each MP is in.
If you want to help me with that I’d be interested in turning the list into a map.
Ben
The Member for Orange is Russell Turner not Richard Turner
Oh I see Nick C beat me well and truly to it.
Support the Independents, Democracy always needs and requires a Balance of Power.
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