The Queensland Parliament has been banned from debate on abortion for four years after an ambush motion by Premier David Crisafulli, in a move labelled “unprecedented”. Source: The Guardian.
The motion also requires any “motion or amendment” seeking to have the house “express its views” on abortion be ruled out of order.
Opposition and crossbench MPs labelled the move “extraordinary” and “unprecedented”.
There was no notice of the move before Mr Crisafulli introduced the motion into the Parliament after question time. Just half an hour was set aside for debate before he used the Liberal National Party’s majority to ram it through.
The issue dominated the recent Queensland election campaign, with Labor repeatedly warning the LNP would roll back their historic 2018 laws that legalised abortion.
Mr Crisafulli said his motion ended a “disgraceful … US-style scare campaign” that the LNP would seek to change abortion laws.
“I said from day one, it was not part of our plan,” Mr Crisafulli said.
Opposition leader Steven Miles said the move was “extraordinary”.
“Mr Speaker, these are extraordinary scenes. I thought I’d never seen anything as extraordinary as what they did at the last sitting. But this, with no notice, no discussion, no advice to the media that it was even coming, such a grubby, grubby treatment [of a serious issue].”
Several Labor MPs pointed out that the motion also prevented the Parliament from expanding legislative protections for abortion services.
Crossbench MP Robbie Katter has repeatedly vowed to reintroduce the party’s “babies born alive” bill, which regulated abortion providers, a move that would almost certainly have forced a vote on the issue.
At a press conference yesterday, Katter’s Australia Party MPs warned that it was the “death of democracy”.
“I think Queenslanders today should be mourning the death of democracy here in the Queensland Parliament,” KAP MP Nick Dametto said.
All 50 LNP MPs present voted for the motion, with 35 Labor MPs and three Katter’s Australia party MPs voting against it.
FULL STORY
Queensland Parliament passes ‘unprecedented’ gag on abortion debate (By Andrew Messenger, The Guardian)
