Divisions
Summary
Members vote in a division to agree or disagree with a question. For
example, they vote whether or not to pass a bill, or agree to a
motion. Members must be in the Chamber to vote in a division, and
all members in the Chamber must vote. Divisions are held in one of
two ways — a party vote or a personal vote.
Decision making in the Chamber
Ringing the division bells
Locking the Chamber doors
Party votes
Personal votes
All members in the Chamber must vote
Only one member votes ‘aye’ or ‘no’
Tied result
Error in counting the votes
Members arranging not to attend a division (pairing)
Announcing and publishing the result
How often are divisions held?
Decision making in the Chamber
In the Legislative Assembly, all questions are decided by members
voting in the Chamber. The Chair states the question to be decided
and members respond by saying ‘aye’ or ‘no’. The Chair announces
whether they feel the majority voted for the ‘ayes’ or for the ‘noes’.
This method is called voting ‘on the voices’.
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Legislative Assembly of Victoria
If any member disagrees with the Chair about the result of a vote on
the voices, they can ask for a division. Divisions are usually
requested by non-government members and allow their opposition to
a bill or a government decision to be officially recorded.
Ringing the division bells
The Clerk switches on bells which ring throughout Parliament House.
This lets members know a division will happen and gives them time
to get to the Chamber. The bells usually ring for three minutes, but
only for one minute if there are two divisions in a row.
Locking the Chamber doors
When the bells have stopped ringing, the doors of the Chamber are
locked. After that, members cannot enter or leave until the division is
finished.
Party votes
The Legislative Assembly holds most of its divisions using the party
vote system. This system was trialled in October 2003 and is now
part of the Assembly’s procedures.
All members in the Chamber must sit in their designated seats to
vote. Members in favour of the vote their party gave on the voices
cast their vote by sitting in their seat. If a member wants to vote
against their party, they must tell their party whip.
The Chair then asks the Clerk to record the votes.The Clerk asks the
whip of each party to report the party’s vote. Parties report votes in
order of the size of their parliamentary membership. Each whip gives
the number of ‘ayes’ or ‘noes’ for members of their party. For
example:
The Member for Shepparton 'no’
Greens Whip ‘2 noes’
Nationals Whip '8 noes'
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Liberal Party Whip ‘30 noes’
Labor Party Whip '47 ayes'
After the whips have reported the votes, any member who told their
whip they want to vote differently from their party, can do so.
Once the Chair has announced the result, the whips must
immediately give the Clerk the names of the members of their party
who were not present for the vote. This is so the names of the voting
members can be published in the Votes and Proceedings (minutes)
and in Hansard.
Personal votes
Personal votes are used for conscience issues where members will
not be voting along party lines. A personal vote is also held when a
whip challenges a party vote.
During a personal vote, members voting ‘aye’ move to the right side
of the Chamber and members voting ‘no’ move to the left side. Right
and left are from the Chair’s perspective.
The Chair appoints at least two members from each side as tellers.
The tellers record the names of the members voting and count the
number of votes. The tellers are helped by parliamentary staff, such
as the Serjeant-at-Arms.
Before 2003, all divisions were taken by personal vote. This physical
division of members to the right or left gives the division its name.
All members in the Chamber must vote
Every member who is in the Chamber must vote. In practice, this
means that if a member wants to abstain from a vote they do not
enter the Chamber. Normally, the Chair is not allowed to vote
except, when votes are equal, the Speaker has a casting vote (see
'Tied result' below).
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Legislative Assembly of Victoria
Members must be in the Chamber to vote. During a party vote, whips
may only report the votes of members of their party who are present
in the Chamber.
Only one member votes ‘aye’ or ‘no’
If only one member votes ‘aye’ or ‘no’, the Chair stops the division
and immediately announces the result to the Chamber. The member
who called for the division can ask for their opposition to be recorded
in the Votes and Proceedings.
Tied result
If there are an equal number of votes for the ‘ayes’ and ‘noes’, the
Speaker has a casting vote. The Speaker can give reasons for the
casting vote, and these are included in the Votes and Proceedings.
Find out more: Fact Sheet D3: Speaker's Casting Vote.
Error in counting the votes
If there is a mistake discovered in the votes counted in a division, the
Speaker announces the error to the Chamber and the Clerk corrects
the Votes and Proceedings.
If there is confusion about the result of a division, or there is an error
in the numbers that cannot be corrected, the Speaker calls another
division, and members vote again.
Members arranging not to attend a division
(pairing)
Sometimes a member knows that they will miss a division. The
member can arrange for another member to be absent too. The
other member must intend to vote the opposite way, therefore
reducing the votes for both the ‘ayes’ and ‘noes’ by one. This is
called pairing. Pairing is not an officially recognised procedure of the
Legislative Assembly, simply an agreement between members.
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Pairing arrangements are made by the party whips and recorded in a
pairs book in the Chamber. Pairs are not recorded in the Votes and
Proceedings or in Hansard.
Announcing and publishing the result
Once members have voted, the Chair announces the result to the
Chamber.
For example:
‘Ayes’: 48 ‘noes’: 40
The motion is agreed to.
The result and the names of the members voting ‘aye’ and ‘no’ are
recorded in the Votes and Proceedings and in Hansard.
How often are divisions held?
Many decisions are made without needing a division. Often, the
Chair can call the result on the voices and no one disagrees.
However, divisions are regularly required. In 2014, 31 divisions were
held and 35 divisions took place in 2013.
Issued by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, August 2015