Weight of history on side of LNP conscience vote to decide future of Queensland abortion laws

A federal Liberal National Party MP says it would be ‘extraordinary’ if Queensland members were denied a conscience vote on proposed legislation to restrict access to abortion.

Colin Boyce, left, and David Crisafulli in 2021.

A federal Liberal National Party MP says it would be “extraordinary” if Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli blocked his partyroom from a conscience vote on legislation to restrict access to abortion in the state.

Colin Boyce, who served with Mr Crisafulli in the Queensland parliament from 2017 until he was elected to the federal seat of Flynn in 2022, told The Australian that the pressure on Mr Crisafulli over his stance on abortion was a consequence of his small-target policy strategy.

The Australian spoke with three other federal members of the LNP who asked not to be quoted, but all agreed with Mr Boyce that the issue of abortion had overtaken the state election campaign because of Mr Crisafulli’s small-target strategy.

Mr Boyce, who spoke “vehemently” against the 2018 laws to decriminalise abortion in Queensland, said Mr Crisafulli wanted to keep voters focused on cost of living, crime and health.

“That is the strategy he wants to pursue … and that is absolutely what he should be doing because it’s an issue on everyone’s plate – the cost of groceries, the cost of filling up the family car, the cost of electricity,” he said

“I think (abortion) is a side issue. Traditionally, the LNP gives a conscience vote on these issues so it would be extraordinary if that did not happen. He is the leader, so it is up to him on what happens with that (a conscience vote) and it’s a question you would have to ask him.”

Luke Howarth, who holds the federal seat of Petrie for the LNP, also told Sky News on Thursday that Mr Crisafulli should “just give a conscience vote”.

“It’s not up to me, I’ll leave that to the state people,” he said. “But it is not a reality … Crisafulli has been pretty clear but of course if the issue comes up I would expect there to be a conscience vote.”

Mr Crisafulli has dodged more than 50 questions over four consecutive days about how he could fulfil his promise of “no changes” to abortion laws if crossbenchers introduced legislation that some LNP MPs supported.

It has been a longstanding practice of the LNP partyroom to grant MPs a conscience vote – ­allowing them to vote freely without the influence of the party – on matters of life or death.

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

In response, crossbencher Robbie Katter revealed his plans to immediately introduce legislation to overhaul abortion laws after the state election.

In Mackay on Thursday, Mr Crisafulli again refused to guarantee whether his MPs would be given a conscience vote on Mr Katter’s bill.

“At the moment, there’s what I would call a scare campaign on one side and a political wedge campaign on the other and I’m in the middle ensuring that Queenslanders know that we’ve ruled that out, and it’s not part of our plan,” he said.