Qld election 2024: Abortion rights may come off second best in Labor preferences
Premier Steven Miles has indicated Labor may put politics above women’s abortion rights when determining the party’s preference allocations.
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Premier Steven Miles has indicated Labor may put politics above women’s abortion rights when determining the party’s preference allocations.
Mr Miles on Wednesday refused to take a stand on whether Labor should preference the LNP above Katter’s Australian Party, following the minor party’s pledge to try to repeal the legalisation of abortion.
The ideological issue has dominated the second week of the state election campaign amid unrest within the LNP about current laws.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has pledged not to change the laws if he becomes premier on October 26, but will not say whether he would give LNP MPs a conscience vote if a Bill was introduced.
Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter is promising to test Mr Crisafulli’s authority over the LNP and move to repeal abortion during the next term of government.
Asked whether Labor should attempt to keep abortion off the agenda and defeat Katter MPs by preferencing the LNP, Mr Miles declined to say.
“Those decisions will be made seat by seat by the party, and you’ll get to see what our preferences are,” he said.
“What you’re just starting to see is what kind of madness would ensue if we had a minority LNP government propped up by their partners in the Katter’s Australian Party and the One Nation party.”
Pushed as leader of the parliamentary Labor Party to take a position on the issue, Mr Miles engaged in a short tit-for-tat with journalists.
He declined to pull rank and demand Labor preference the LNP above the KAP.
Mr Miles asked: “What’s your assertion here, that Katters are worse than the LNP?
“What matters is what people believe and you know what the LNP members believe.”
The premier said, should a vote come before the next parliament, Labor MPs would get a conscience vote.
“It’s been our long-held practice to have a conscience vote on those matters but you know what our conscience says, Labor MPs support a woman’s right to choose and you know what the LNP MPs’ consciences say too – they are overwhelmingly opposed,” he said.
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman declared she was “terrified” of the prospect of again debating abortion.
Ms Fentiman on Tuesday declined to say whether Labor MPs would be given a conscience vote if she was party leader after October 26, insisting she was focused on winning the election.
All but three Liberal National MPs, including current frontbenchers Tim Nicholls and Jan Stuckey, voted against decriminalising abortion in 2018.
Originally published as Qld election 2024: Abortion rights may come off second best in Labor preferences
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