Editing Crossing the floor (section)

==Voting against party lines==
In some countries, the phrase "crossing the floor" describes members of a government party or parties who defect by voting with the opposition against some piece of government-sponsored legislation. Political parties commonly allow their members a free vote on some matters of personal conscience. In Australia, one of the major parties, the [[Australian Labor Party]] requires its members to pledge their support for the collective decisions of the caucus,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fprspub%2F31KH6%22 |title=Crossing the floor in the Federal Parliament 1950 – August 2004 |work=Research Note no. 11 2005–06 |publisher=Parliament of Australia |date=October 10, 2005}}</ref> which theoretically prohibits them from "crossing the floor" in this sense; however, in practice, some Labor members disregard this pledge, despite the disciplinary action which may result. Among other parties, crossing the floor is rare, although then Senator [[Barnaby Joyce]] of the [[National Party of Australia]] crossed the floor 28 times.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1920/CrossingTheFloorFederalParliament |title=Crossing the floor in the federal parliament 1950–April 2019 |last1=McKeown |first1=Deirdre |last2=Lundie |first2=Rob |date=12 March 2020 |website=Parliament of Australia}}</ref> Tasmanian Senator [[Reg Wright|Sir Reg Wright]] voted against his own party, the [[Liberal Party of Australia]], on 150 occasions, which has been claimed as a record for this form of crossing the floor in the Australian Parliament.