Here’s the first part of my potted summary of the Senate debate on the TGA reform. This post is very long, but not as long as the three Senate Hansards (transcripts of parliamentary debates) that I waded through in order to collect this information. I’ll work on one for the House of Representatives during the next week, if I have the energy… I make no promises though – I’ve spent nearly 8 hours on this so far.

I’ve only noted those who voted in favour of the bill – I want to encourage people to write and thank their Senators, but this has been really very time consuming, so I’m disinclined to do the work for people who either a) want to write rude letters to those who disagree with them or b) are against the bill. Similarly, I’ve only collected quotable quotes (next post) from people I agreed with. Mostly because, by some strange chance, the things they said struck me as so much more intelligent and interesting than the things said by their opponents… can’t imagine why that would be…

Yes, I’m partisan. But having read through several hundred pages of Hansards, I think I have that right. Besides, I’m a Big Hairy Feminist on this issue (and I’m allowed to be, because my husband said so…) (admittedly, I only asked him so that I would be able to write that sentence in my blog). You can find the full list of Ayes and Nayes in the Senate Hansard for February 9, on around page 89, if I recall correctly – there is an index up the front if I’m wrong. And the Hansards themselves can be found through the Australian Parliament House website – http://www.aph.gov.au . If you have heaps and heaps of time on your hands, I do recommend reading these. I found them much more interesting than expected – and my opinion of the intelligence of many of our politicians is on the rise.

The four MPs who co-sponsored the bill were:
Fiona Nash (Nationals)
Lyn Allison (Democrats)
Claire Moore (ALP)
Judith Troeth (Liberal Party)

Voting in its favour were:

Australian Democrats
Lyn Allison (VIC)
Andrew Bartlett (QLD)
Andrew Murray (WA)
Natasha Stott-Despoja (SA)

Australian Greens
Bob Brown (TAS) (no email, but you can write to him at 9th Floor, Marine Board Building, 1 Franklin Wharf, Hobart TAS 7000)
Christine Milne (TAS)
Kerry Nettle (NSW)
Rachel Siewert (WA)

Australian Labor Party
Carol Brown (TAS)
George Campbell (NSW)
Kim Carr (VIC)
Trish Crossin (NT)
Christopher Evans
John Faulkner (NSW)
Annette Hurley (SA)
Linda Kirk (SA)
Joe Ludwig (QLD)
Kate Lundy (ACT)
Anne McEwen (SA)
Gavin Marshall (VIC)
Jan McLucas (QLD)
Claire Moore (QLD)
Kerry O’Brien (TAS)
Robert Ray (VIC)
Nick Sherry (TAS)
Glenn Sterle (WA)
Ruth Webber (WA)
Penny Wong (SA)
Dana Wortley (SA)

Country Liberal Party
Nigel Scullion (NT)

Family First Party
none

Liberal Party of Australia
Judith Adams (WA)
Ian Campbell (WA)
Richard Colbeck (TAS)
Helen Coonan (NSW)
Jeannie Ferris (SA)
Mitch Fifield (VIC)
Robert Hill (SA) (no email, but you can write to him at Commonwealth Parliament Offices, Level 13, 100 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000
David Johnston (WA)
Ian Macdonald (QLD)
Kay Patterson (VIC)
Marise Payne (NSW)
Judith Troeth (VIC)
Russell Trood (QLD)
Amanda Vanstone (SA) (no email, but you can write to her at: Level 13, 100 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000)
John Watson (TAS)

The Nationals
Fiona Nash (NSW)

I do urge you to write and thank your Senators and MPs for passing this bill, if it means anything to you. Anything like this tends to generate a lot of mail before the bill is passed, largely from pro-life groups, and I think it is only fair to thank people for a job well done.

Quotes from Senators to follow.