Angry crowd of demonstrators march at Keep Abortion Legal rally in Brisbane CBD
Hundreds of people have gathered in the Brisbane CBD to protest the recently elected LNP state government and the hot election issue of abortion.
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Hundreds of people have gathered in the Brisbane CBD over the recently elected LNP state government and what its plans are for abortion.
The Keep Abortion Legal rally was held at Brisbane Square, outside the old Treasury Casino, on Friday afternoon and early evening, amid inclement weather conditions.
The rally was hosted by the National Union of Students and Children by Choice, with organisers demanding the government to keep abortion legal and to make it free and accessible.
Approximately 500 people attended the rally, with speakers including Children by Choice CEO Jill McCay, Ipswich-based general practitioner Bec Leeks, University of Queensland Union Women’s Officer Alyssa Roser, and rank and file teacher member of the Queensland Teachers Union Bec Barrigos.
Following the rally, demonstrators marched along George St, Adelaide St, Edward St, Charlotte St, and back onto George St towards Brisbane Square.
National Union of Students Queer Officer and rally chair Ella Gutteridge said a young and vibrant crowd attended the “angry rally”.
“We had a lively, angry rally, and marched around the city block after hearing some speeches,” Ms Gutteridge said.
“It was a really angry and young and vibrant crowd.
“I would say it was a very diverse crowd, we had lots of high schoolers, uni students, and lots of men as well.”
Ms Gutteridge added that there was a lot of anger directed towards the recently elected Liberal National Party government regarding their history surrounding abortion rights.
“I think the feeling was just really anger and outrage at the Liberal government,” she said.
“I think their election means that there’s not a second to waste in getting organised to fight back.
“We know from the history of the Liberal government in Queensland, they don’t support abortion rights in 2018 all of their members except three, voted against decriminalising abortion, yeah, so we can’t trust them.”
Ms Gutteridge added that issues such as the attack on the union movement and rights of First Nations people were also raised at the rally.
“There was lots of talk about their attacks on unions as well as Aboriginal rights in addition to abortion rights,” she said.
Abortion and women’s reproductive rights was a hot topic during the 2024 Queensland state election campaign.
After being asked about his stance on abortion more than 130 times over the course of the campaign, new Premier David Crisafulli said during the final week of the election that there would be no changes to abortion laws if an LNP government was elected and he revealed he personally supported a woman’s right to choose.
The vast majority of Liberal National MPs voted against Labor’s 2018 law to take abortion out of the Criminal Code.
Only three LNP members voted in favour of the bill, namely former leader Tim Nicholls, frontbencher Steve Minnikin, and former minister Jann Stuckey.
Originally published as Angry crowd of demonstrators march at Keep Abortion Legal rally in Brisbane CBD
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