What counts as a crossing

Ten classes of affiliation change, each defined before it is counted. A class marked as contested is one where reasonable compilers disagree, and a class marked as not yet represented is one this database does not hold — published as a gap rather than left for you to discover.

These groupings are editorial, not measurements. A grouping does not establish a motive, a reward, or a causal link, and the records inside one are mostly unverified leads.

The full inclusion criteria

1.Voluntary party-to-party crossing

Covered

A sitting member leaves one caucus by their own decision and is received into another, while the legislature stands and without an intervening election.

Counts toward the floor-crossing figure334 events currently stored under this class’s event types

2.Voluntary departure to sit as an Independent

Covered

A sitting member leaves a caucus by their own decision and sits without party affiliation.

Counts toward the sat-as-an-independent figure104 events currently stored under this class’s event types

3.Expulsion from a caucus

Covered

A caucus removes a member. The member sits as an Independent because the caucus acted, not because they chose to.

Counts toward the sat-as-an-independent figureContested13 events currently stored under this class’s event types

4.Return to a caucus after departure, suspension or expulsion

Covered

A member who has been sitting as an Independent, whether by choice or by removal, is readmitted to the caucus they left.

Counts toward neither figureContested8 events currently stored under this class’s event types

5.Joining or founding a new party while sitting

Partly covered

One or more sitting members leave their caucus for a party that does not yet exist, or that exists but holds no seats until they arrive.

Counts toward the floor-crossing figure61 events currently stored under this class’s event types

6.Party dissolution or merger absorption

Not yet represented in the database

The affiliation of record changes because the party ceases to exist, merges, or is absorbed — not because a member went looking for a new home.

Counts toward the floor-crossing figureContested0 events currently stored under this class’s event types

7.Caucus or label rename

Partly covered

The name under which a member sits changes without the member moving: a caucus renames itself, a party rebrands, or a records system adopts a new label for the same group.

Counts toward neither figureContested361 events currently stored under this class’s event types

8.Senate group change

Partly covered

A senator changes parliamentary group. Since the 2016 reform the Senate is organised around groups rather than parties, so what a senator sits with is frequently not a party at all.

Counts toward neither figureContested526 events currently stored under this class’s event types

9.Election-time relabelling without a mid-term act

Covered

A person’s party label differs before and after an election, but nothing happened between elections: they sought and won nomination under a different party, or an election-period label differs from the label of record.

Counts toward neither figureContested88 events currently stored under this class’s event types

10.Jurisdiction-specific rules

Not yet represented in the database

Not a class of event but a class of rule: local law or caucus procedure that changes what a crossing can be, or what evidence a crossing leaves behind, in one jurisdiction.

Counts toward neither figureNo `event_type` value is reserved for this class yet, so no count can be taken for it. That is the gap, stated.

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