Anger over abortion supporters’ victory photo as Liberal MPs warn it could cost them voters
While Premier Gladys Berejiklian is out of the country on a trade mission in the UK, Liberal ministers and backbenchers have vented their anger over her decision to rush the abortion bill through parliament.
Senior Liberal figure Warren Mundine has likened the crisis engulfing Premier Gladys Berejiklian over her handling of abortion reform to former premier Mike Baird’s leadership on the greyhound ban.
In an interview with 2GB host Ray Hadley, Mr Mundine accused Ms Berejiklian of doing a “grubby little deal” and suggested it could cost the Premier her job.
Mr Mundine said the Baird government was “sailing along beautifully” until they “got arrogant and got ahead of themselves on the greyhound ban”.
“And guess what happened to them? They lost seats, and they lost their jobs … and now we’ve going through the same situation again with the abortion bill,” he said.
“Here they are — never mentioned in the election never mentioned it to anyone, did some grubby deal with the Greens — and how embarrassing it is for the Premier and the Deputy Premier to be sitting with the Greens and one side of the parliament while two thirds of the Liberal Party are sitting on the other side?”
“This is a very contentious and emotional issue, and I understand that. The important part about it is when you go for these processes they should have had it out there, had the public debate had that debate within their party room, and then moved forward rather than giving a grubby little deal with the Greens.”
The Premier’s London trade visit has been derailed amid a revolt from her own members over the handling of changes to abortion laws that may open the door to gender selection.
Ms Berejiklian was determined to talk about trade and jobs as she attended a function at Stoke Lodge, the Australian High Commissioner George Brandis’ official residence in London.
But questions about the backbench revolt over her handling of the abortion bill, which is to go before the upper house within weeks, dominated questions.
Ms Berejiklian denied that she had a secret deal with independent MP Alex Greenwich who put up the private members’ bill, and deflected questions about why she did not flag the issue before the election.
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When asked if she should have flagged the debate, the Premier said: “Can I make this very clear, many members of parliament had indicated that they wanted to move the bill, not just before the election but quite a while before the election.
“It’s a bill where every individual member has a conscience vote and every member is able to bring that forward.
“I was asked about it during the election, I didn’t speak about it because it’s not government policy. It wasn’t my policy. It was an independent member that brought it forward but of course every member is obliged to vote.”
Ms Berejiklian said that she was assured that the bill did not open the door to gender selection, despite widespread concerns that it was too broad.
“There isn’t a single person in New South Wales or the parliament that does not deplore gender selection,” she said.
“I’ll be the first one to shout that from the rooftops. What we have done is get advice from the chief obstetrician … who said that it is not occurring in New South Wales.
“But we’re not taking that just as an answer. We have also extended a review into that so that if there is anything more to do we will.”
Ms Berejiklian also rejected suggestions she had a deal with Mr Greenwich.
“I have said a million times and I will say again, there was no deal. No deal on my part,” she said.
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“What I say is this. Individual members are able to raise issues and Mr Greenwich has made his intentions clear for a long time as had members of the upper house who had made their intentions clear.”
Back home in Australia, Liberal ministers and backbenchers have vented their fury at Ms Berejiklian over her handling of the abortion bill, with a warning it could collapse the government’s agenda in the upper house through to the next election.
A number of Liberals unloaded on her decision to allow the Private Member’s Bill to be rushed through parliament.
Counter Terrorism Minister and right-winger Anthony Roberts said his constituents were “ropeable” over a lack of public consultation on the bill and the fact it will allow gender-selective abortions up to 22 weeks.
“This has broken all land speed records from the announcement of the bill to jamming it through parliament — it is disgraceful,” Mr Roberts said.
“The NSW parliament abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955 — in 2019 they reinstated it for the crime of being inconvenient or being a female.”
Liberal MLC Matthew Mason-Cox said the government’s program was now “under a cloud” because it had “alienated” conservative upper house cross benchers.
Mr Mason-Cox, who has crossed the floor to vote against the government in the past, said Ms Berejiklian could have stopped the bill from being introduced “on day one” but instead “joined the chorus to fast-track it through”.
“I think it reflects poorly on her leadership. I think she’s lost support within her party and the community over this,” he said.
He said it would make it difficult for government to get its legislative agenda through the crossbench.
Shooters Party leader Robert Borsak confirmed the handling of the abortion bill had “undermined any potential for supporting them (the Coalition) over the life of this government”.
“This government is sneaky, secretive, deceitful plays favourites and is prepared to do deals with elitist left inner-city dwellers, Animal Justice Party and even Greens to get their way, at the cost of rural and regional NSW,” he said.
Another Liberal MP said there was “hot” anger among voters and warned the party was “losing supporters at a rate of knots”.
“People feel betrayed and ignored, especially when it comes to something as emotional and important as this,” the MP said.
MPs have also slammed an “undignified” photo showing Mr Greenwich, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and other co-sponsors of the bill cheering after it passed the Legislative Assembly on Thursday night.
“If you’ve split the community, why would you rub their face and your opponent’s face in it by posting a celebratory photo?” one Liberal said.
Liberals are fuming over an apparent “sweetheart deal” Ms Berejiklian made before the election with independent Alex Greenwich, who moved the bill. In case of minority government, some believe the Premier offered to back Mr Greenwich in exchange for his confidence and supply.
“There is a dirty deal that’s being done here because otherwise, why are we doing what we’re doing?” one Liberal MP said.
Mr Greenwich and the Premier’s spokesman both denied a pre-election deal.
The fate of the Abortion Bill is now with upper house MPs, who will hold a public inquiry this week.
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