After another week of shock and awe attacks on democracy in the USA, and Mini-Me responses from our very own Temu Trump-in-waiting, it’s worth remembering that there’s often a significant gulf – between the words of politicians of all stripes, at every level of the greasy pole – and their actions.
Words are often used as a smokescreen these days, designed to enrage and confuse. Often they are contradictory, or senseless. Communication has become old-fashioned, particularly for those with nothing genuine to offer.
This is why it’s important to look beyond the social media posts and clickbait headlines, especially when approaching election time, as we are now in Australia, and look closely at what these people have actually done with the (limited) power they have. For most law-makers, most of the time, this comes down to their votes on the individual issues that come up for scrutiny.
Too short of time for all that, you say? Well it’s your lucky day. For now, or at least until the billionaires and their lackeys have it taken down, there’s a remarkable free resource called They Vote For You.
How it works
Based on the UK version which launched in 2003, now known as TheyWorkForYou, this open source project from the OpenAustralia Foundation allows you to see exactly how every federal politician has voted, on every issue, during their time in office.
Based on official data from the parliamentary website, you can see which issues they supported, what they rejected, and what they couldn’t be bothered voting on.
Do you live in the electorate of Page? Type in ‘Kevin Hogan’, and you can see he has a 77 per cent attendance record. This might mean he deliberately abstained 23 per cent of the time, was busy elsewhere, or wasn’t there for some other reason when votes were called.
Remember how Kevin made a big fuss about ‘crossing the floor’ when Malcolm Turnbull was rolled? That was purely about optics. They Vote For You shows that Hogan has never voted against the wishes of his party whip.
Remember how he said he opposed unconventional gas, unlike most of the National Party, when this became a make or break issue in the Northern Rivers? They Vote For You shows that Kevin Hogan voted ‘almost always’ for unconventional gas mining. He voted consistently against a transition plan for coal workers, ending immigration detention on Nauru, increasing housing affordability, increasing investment in renewable energy and net zero emissions by 2035.
Whatever issue is important to you, wherever you live, simply type in your postcode, or a politician’s name, and see how your representative has used the power your electorate gave to him or her.
Richmond
Type in ‘Justine Elliot’ and you can see how the member for Richmond has voted during her long time in office. With a 94 per cent attendance record, Justine gets a smiley stamp there.
What about the issues? Justine Elliot has voted ‘consistently’ for numerous things, including a carbon price, criminalising wage theft, federal action on public housing, increasing restrictions on gambling, increasing the diversity of media ownership and treating the COVID vaccine rollout as a matter of urgency.
She has voted ‘almost always’ against limited global warming to 1.5 degrees, and live animal export. She has voted ‘consistently against’ drug testing welfare recipients, increasing scrutiny of unions, privatising government assets, considering motions on Gaza, and making more water from the Murray-Darling Basin available for use.
They Vote For You also allows you to compare any representative’s voting record with another representative. Everyone from lowly backbenchers to party leaders and ministers is subject to the same scrutiny.
While members of major parties usually vote in blocs, not everyone is a member of a major party, and it can be illuminating to see where individual representatives choose to abstain.
Liberals in particular don’t like They Vote For You or its creator the Open Australia Foundation, with Senator Andrew Bragg and MP Dave Sharma threatening legal action against this organisation in the past, and also complaining about the not-for-profit foundation’s charitable status to the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission, all to no effect, so far.
How do they vote for you? Have a look. You might be surprised.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
