Editing Australian Senate (section)

====Political parties and voting outcomes====
The strength of party discipline is demonstrated by how rare it is for members to vote against the position taken by their party. The exceptions are where a [[conscience vote]] is allowed by one or more of the political parties; and occasions where a member of a political party [[crossing the floor|crosses the floor]] of the chamber to vote against the instructions of their [[whip (politics)|party whip]]. Crossing the floor very rarely occurs, but is more likely in the Senate than in the House of Representatives.<ref>Deirdre McKeown, Rob Lundie and Greg Baker, [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2005-06/06rn11.pdf 'Crossing the floor in the Federal Parliament 1950 – August 2004'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003132418/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2005-06/06rn11.pdf |date=3 October 2008 }}, ''Research Note'', No. 11, 2005–06, Department of Parliamentary Services, Canberra.</ref>

When the government has a majority in the Senate, the importance of party discipline increases, as it is only backbenchers that may prevent the passage of government bills. While strong party discipline has been a feature of Australian politics since the emergence of the Labor Party in the early 1900s, as late as 1980 the Fraser government could not be assured that his party's majority in the Senate would translate to absolute control, with at least 12 senators prepared to vote against the government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Harry |title=Restraining elective dictatorship: the upper house solution? |date=2008 |publisher=University of Western Australia Press |isbn=978-1-921401-09-1 |editor-last=Aroney |editor-first=Nicholas |location=Crawley, W.A |page=71 |language=en |chapter=The case for bicameralism |editor-last2=Prasser |editor-first2=Scott |editor-last3=Nethercote |editor-first3=J. R.}}</ref> Similarly, when the Howard government had a Senate majority between 2005 and 2007, the internal differences between members of the government coalition parties became more apparent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/papers/20050630_uhr.pdf |title=How Democratic is Parliament? A case study in auditing the performance of Parliaments |last=Uhr |first=John |date=June 2005 |publisher=Democratic Audit of Australia, Discussion Paper |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514151348/http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/papers/20050630_uhr.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2013}}</ref> However due to the increase in party discipline, only two senators in this period crossed the floor:<ref>Peter Veness, [https://archive.today/20070728091913/http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19479942-29277,00.html 'Crossing floor 'courageous, futile'], news.com.au, 15 June 2006. Retrieved January 2008.</ref> [[Gary Humphries]] on civil unions in the Australian Capital Territory, and [[Barnaby Joyce]] on [[voluntary student unionism]].<ref>Neither of these instances resulted in the defeat of a government proposal, as in both cases Senator [[Steve Fielding]] voted with the government.</ref> A more significant potential instance of floor crossing was averted when the government withdrew its Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill, of which several government senators had been critical, and which would have been defeated had it proceeded to the vote.<ref>{{cite web |last=Howard |first=John |date=14 August 2006 |title=Transcript of the Prime Minister the Hon John Howard MP Press Conference, Parliament House, Canberra |url=http://www.pm.gov.au/news/interviews/Interview2073.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821014554/http://www.pm.gov.au/news/interviews/Interview2073.html |archive-date=21 August 2006 |access-date=21 August 2006 |website=Prime Minister of Australia News Room |publisher=Office of the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia}}</ref> The controversy that surrounded these examples demonstrated both the importance of [[backbencher]]s in party policy deliberations and the limitations to their power to influence outcomes in the Senate chamber.

In September 2008, Barnaby Joyce became leader of the Nationals in the Senate, and stated that his party in the upper house would no longer necessarily vote with their Liberal counterparts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.smh.com.au/national/nationals-wont-toe-libs-line-joyce-20080918-4isw.html |title=Nationals won't toe Libs' line: Joyce – SMH 18/9/2008 |publisher=News.smh.com.au |date=18 September 2008 |access-date=17 July 2010 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203102843/http://news.smh.com.au/national/nationals-wont-toe-libs-line-joyce-20080918-4isw.html |url-status=live }}</ref>