Alan Jones: Gladys Berejiklian’s government has been swamped by green-left culture warriors

The NSW government is in a crisis entirely of its own making, having gone to the most recent election on infrastructure only to govern as green-left culture warriors, writes Alan Jones.

• Abortion debate dominates Premier’s London visit

A leading figure in the Berejiklian government made the chilling observation at the end of last week.

“In 2019, the NSW government abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955. In 2019 they reinstated it for the crime of being inconvenient.”

It’s no use gilding the lily. The Berejiklian government is in meltdown.

One aspect of the abortion legislation can easily be addressed. Abortion does not belong as part of the criminal code. It is a health issue.

But in conceding that, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the Berejiklian government has made a complete mess of the whole issue and it is not likely the architects of this mess will be easily forgiven.

Good leadership requires those exercising it to take people with them; that is entirely different from walking people.

There are two areas here in which the government is in trouble.

For a start, 19 Liberals voted against the legislation, only 14 voted for it.

The NSW government went to the election on infrastructure only to govern as green-left culture warriors.

What angers the electorate is that legislation that has the government in this mess, some would say held in contempt by many government supporters, is that the proponent is an independent who gained 17,000 votes at the last election.

As Mark Latham rightly asked, why was Mr Greenwich given a “rails run” when other member’s bills are kicked off to committees for six months?

But, it’s more than that.

The government is only a couple of months old and Alex Greenwich has called the shots on the Abortion Bill; he’s chairman of a committee that aims to remove the coal industry from the Hunter Valley; and deputy chair of the Lockout Laws review committee.

Did the smart-alecs advising Gladys Berejiklian before the election believe she wouldn’t win and may, at best, preside over a hung parliament?

Were deals done behind the scenes, and in secret, to gain the support of people like Alex Greenwich?

And was one of those deals a commitment to the presentation of this abortion legislation?

Did it also involve the rejection of the Ritz-Carlton project which had, for four years, been given the green light by the government, and its instrumentalities, at every stage — I might add, at a cost of $13 million to its proponent.

You don’t have to be a prude, a wowser or a bible-basher to say that the abortion legislation which, I might add, may well be rejected in the upper house, opens the door to abortion on demand, abortion up until 22 weeks. No questions asked.

Picture a woman walking down the street, five and a half months pregnant. An ordinary person looks and says, with pleasure and joy, there’s a person inside there.

Do the proponents of this bill deny that?

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is battling to win favour even from her own party members.

And then, abortion for any reason up until birth provided two doctors agree, in all the circumstances, that the abortion should take place.

Surely the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney deserves to have his concerns addressed when he said simply, “I can’t believe for the life of me that these respected parliamentarians would ever put their name to a bill which would kill an unborn baby the day before birth.”

But what’s more, there seem to be no protections for women of any kind within the legislation and no counselling before or after what is a serious, sensitive and emotional process.

There are quiet Australians who voted for Berejiklian and Morrison, from Asian and ethnic backgrounds, with a firm belief in traditional family values, who are agog at what they see as a betrayal and the weakness of the leadership in articulating an appropriate response.

This matter deserved the input of people beyond the confines of Parliament House.

And if New South Wales needed abortion on demand, right up until birth, why was there not a syllable about this articulated during the election campaign?

The Liberal Party is angry and divided.

One MP moved a motion to require, “Termination not be used for gender selection.”

The motion was defeated.

If that’s what you’re against, what are you for?

It’s one thing to divide your own party and have your undemocratic greyhound, forced amalgamations, lockout laws shambles revisited again.

But the voters in NSW have another concern.

How did such an issue jump the legislative queue and why does a piece of legislation which allows for abortions without safeguards at 22 weeks — why is it called a “Reproductive Bill” when it seems to embrace the exact opposite.

But all that aside, voters went to the election in March wondering about electricity prices and what’s to be done about coal fired power.

There is a proposal by a committee headed by the same Alex Greenwich to transition the Hunter Valley to clean energy and wipe out coal-fired power and put people out of work.

This obviously doesn’t merit the same status as the Abortion Bill.

People in outer Western Sydney are being told, because of the Badgerys Creek Creek Airport, there will be a new city of 1.3 million.

No discussion as to how people get there. No talk about building a public hospital. No debate about how you get the fuel to Badgerys Creek Creek.

Parents worry about what’s happening in the classroom and where education is heading with a school curriculum that alarms many parents.

Drought has overtaken 90 per cent of the state, but the Murray Darling Basin Plan keeps taking water from farmers for “environmental flows”.

There is genuine anger from people who feel that these are the concerns they voted for on March 18 which have now been ruthlessly sidelined by an issue about which they have been given no say.

How many more people can you put off-side?

This, they call, betrayal.

And voters don’t forget or forgive betrayal.