Senator Andrew Bragg and MP Dave Sharma have written a joint letter to denounce the site They Vote For You as “hyper partisan” and “full of lies”. The website is aimed at showing the public how pollies vote in parliament… so weird the MPs would take issue with that??
They also attempted to have the charity-information website stripped of its charity status without speaking to its founders first or having an open and frank discussion.
They Vote For You has made a tweak to the wording on its site, from “voted strongly against” to “consistently against”, which founder Matt Landauer says was a change already in the works when the complaint letter was written. To me, “consistently against” shows more clear intent to vote against something than the previous wording. So, be careful what you wish for, I guess.
They Vote For You is a website that uses a written record of what is said in Parliament to show how MPs vote on specific issues like a carbon tax, or treating the COVID-19 vaccine roll out as urgent.
Seems the members have failed to grasp that the website is not called “They Feel For You” and doesn’t represent their deeply held beliefs, what they give speeches or write books about. Just their votes.
The MPs’ letter appears to compare the website to Russian propaganda in the 2016 US election in a bout of hyperbole. It’s not available publicly and they wouldn’t give it to me, but they seem to have shared it with a select few outlets.
The letter also apparently sent to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, in attempt to get it deregistered — but the founders say it doesn’t seem to have been successful.
Landauer explained its purpose to me.
“Whether someone has written a book about an issue or made a statement or is publicly known as being for against something is actually irrelevant in terms of how they’re presented on they vote for you. Because all that comes into it is how they vote.” Landauer said.
He said there had been no direct contact from the MPs.
This long-standing issue has been addressed by They Vote For You by the recent language change.
In the statement the MPs claim the website misrepresents them on issues that they are personally passionate for simply because they didn’t vote to support them.
They seem to think it’s an impossible standard to be accountable for actually supporting the things they say they do.
“Senator Bragg chaired the Libs and Nats for Yes campaign, and was a strong proponent for marriage equality. But They Vote for You claims he “voted strongly against Indigenous and LGBTI rights”. He has written a book supporting indigenous constitutional recognition, but the website claims he is opposed to the Voice.” The statement on The Spectator claims.
Senator Braggs full voting profile can be seen here. I invite readers to determine for themselves if Senator Bragg, who has almost never rebelled from the party line, is voting true to his personal passions.
One of his big concerns is how his position is presented on an Indigenous Voice to parliament, however the senator has only voted against a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice in parliament.
Dave Sharma is much the same. As the member for Wentworth, climate change is a big talking point for him. But his record on votes that would have a positive impact on climate change is negative.
It is important to note the Liberal and Nationals have historically had the highest volume of rebel votes in parliament with 96.8% of floor crossings compared to Labor’s 3.1%, so it is not unheard of for Coalition members to vote passionately.
The way Sharma and Bragg are trying to shut down this site makes it seem like they are so embarrassed by their past they will do whatever it takes to silence any means of keeping them accountable. And now the website shows that despite everything they claim, they still vote against taking action on things they believe in, time and time again.
