Queensland election: David Crisafulli’s hand to be forced on abortion

Crossbencher Robbie Katter will move to immediately introduce legislation to overhaul Queensland’s abortion laws after the state election in a move that could trigger another conscience vote on the reforms.

Robbie Katter addressing the March For Life rally on June 8. Picture: Richard Walker

Crossbencher Robbie Katter will move to immediately introduce legislation to overhaul Queensland’s abortion laws after the state election in a move that could trigger another conscience vote on the reforms and upend Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli’s promise of “no changes” for four years.

Mr Katter, who holds the ­second-safest seat in the Queensland parliament on a 24.72 per cent margin and is pro-life, told The Australian he would even be willing to “lower the bar” on his desire to repeal the laws and instead tighten access to the procedure if it meant more MPs would vote in favour of his bill.

“I would be prepared to calibrate it to something they felt they could support, to give it expediency through the parliament,” said Mr Katter who commands four of seven current crossbench votes.

Successive polls show the LNP is poised to win a comfortable majority at the October 26 election and several of the party’s incumbents and candidates running in winnable seats have expressed staunch pro-life views in the past.

The issue resurfaced as a key election issue after MPs in two safe seats recently professed commitment to support legislation to restrict access to abortion.

Under increasing attacks from Labor over “secret plans” to wind back reforms, Mr Crisafulli in September promised an LNP government would continue funding the Miles government’s $42m termination-of-pregnancy action plan and has insisted there would be no change to the law if the LNP won majority government.

He refused to say whether LNP MPs would be given a conscience vote on Mr Katter’s prospective bill, meaning they could vote based on their own views rather than those of the party.

It has been a longstanding practice of the LNP partyroom to grant MPs a conscience vote on matters of life or death, and in 2022 Mr Crisafulli said that would remain under his leadership.

On Tuesday, however, he refused to answer more than 10 questions about whether he would still commit to a conscience vote for his MPs on matters of life and death. “You know my position, that is not part of our plan, and there won’t be changes (to Termination of Pregnancy Act).”

Ahead of the last election, the LNP committed to reviewing counselling arrangements, protections against abortion coercion and whether the procedure should be available on request up to 22 weeks’ gestation.

Scenic Rim MP Jon Krause told a candidate forum on September 15 that he saw “serious issues” with the 2018 laws, which removed abortion from the Criminal Code and allowed the procedure on request up to 22 weeks’ gestation, and would “be a part of bringing about like-­minded members to try and deal with those issues”.

“We need to ensure that there are enough people in the parliament to be able to repeal those laws or to make significant amendments,” he said.

At a separate candidates forum in Gympie, north of Brisbane, last week, LNP frontbencher Tony Perrett said he believed life was created at conception, had voted against decriminalising the procedure in 2018 and “would continue to do so”.

At Redlands Hospital in the eastern bayside electorate of Oodgeroo, Premier Steven Miles said the opposition was not being upfront with Queenslanders about the party’s abortion stance.

“The Leader of the Opposition, David Crisafulli, said no members of his team were talking about abortion,” Mr Miles said.

“Now we learn that many members of his team are in fact talking about abortion. They’re not talking to you about abortion, they’re talking to church community forums where they are committing personally to make abortion a crime again.”