‘Not part of our plan’: LNP MPs and candidates gagged on abortion

David Crisafulli’s campaign was derailed for the fourth day in a row on Friday after a regional candidate refused to answer at least 13 questions on abortion alongside the opposition leader.

High-ranking LNP MPs and candidates in key seats have been muzzled on abortion and resorted to parroting strict party messaging as the Opposition scrambles to get its election campaign back on track.

LNP candidates in the 13 battleground seats tipped to change hands at the election have avoided answering questions on abortion with inquiries directed to party headquarters to provide a set response of “it’s not part of our plan, the LNP has ruled it out”.

Mr Crisafulli’s campaign was derailed for the fourth day in a row on Friday after the party’s candidate for Rockhampton Donna Kirkland refused to answer at least 13 questions on abortion during a press conference alongside the opposition leader.

This included whether she still agreed with a social media post she shared in 2019 claiming “abortion is the greatest human rights abuse of our time”.

She was asked at least 13 times what her current personal views are on abortion, why she made the post at the time, and what she meant when she said “we’ve ruled it out” and “it’s not part of our plan”.

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Donna Kirkland LNP candidate for Rockhampton. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Ms Kirkland did not once use the term “abortion” or “termination of pregnancy”.

“We’ve been very clear on this, we’ve ruled it out,” she said.

Abortion has dominated the election debate after LNP MPs including Tony Perrett (Gympie) and Jon Krause (Scenic Rim) voiced anti-abortion views in candidate forums.

Mr Krause, in a live-streamed candidate forum on September 15 hosted by Harvest Point Church, said he saw “some issues with the current law”.

“(I) would certainly be part of bringing like-minded members to try and deal with those issues,” he said.

A Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) vow to overhaul abortion laws urgently in the next parliament has piled pressure on Mr Crisafulli, with the leader refusing to reveal if he will break with convention and deny his party room a conscience vote on matters of life or death.

Mr Crisafulli has faced a barrage of questions on abortion over the past week, including at least 60 in the last three days alone.

But he has refused to veer from repeated claims abortion was “not part of our plan”.

This is despite the leader being powerless to control what laws crossbenchers put forward, nor how his MP’s vote unless he chooses to break convention and deny his party room a conscience vote.

Donna Kirkland LNP candidate for Rockhampton and Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The Courier-Mail also approached 14 LNP candidates in key seats, including Pumicestone’s Ariana Doolan, Bundaberg’s Bree Watson, Aspley’s Amanda Cooper, Nicklin’s Marty Hunt, Hervey Bay’s David Lee and Yolonde Entsch in Cairns in a bid to talk to them directly about abortion.

But inquiries for all but one were all directed to party headquarters. An LNP party spokeswoman then furnished a response “on behalf of LNP candidates”.

“It’s not part of our plan, the LNP has ruled it out,” she said.

“Labor’s desperate scare campaign is an attempt to distract from their failures across youth crime, health, housing and cost of living.”

The only candidate to directly respond to The Courier-Mail was Caloundra candidate Kendall Morton.

When asked multiple times about changing the existing laws and what her position would be for a conscience vote, she repeatedly responded “that’s not part of our plan’’.

Kendall Morton LNP candidate for Caloundra with opposition leader David Crisafulli.

LNP frontbenchers including Jarrod Bleijie, David Janetzki, Dale Last, and Laura Gerber along with MPs Trevor Watts, Jim McDonald and Pat Weir have also refused to veer from the party’s set line even when asked for their personal views.

And Mr Crisafulli has praised the rigid homogenous responses of his MPs and candidates as a sign of “unity”- despite the LNP priding itself on being a broad church.

“We have a plan, and we’ve ruled that out so that shows you a level of a sense of unity to deal with the issues that Queenslanders want us to deal with,” he said.

Shadow Attorney-General Tim Nicholls, one of two serving LNP MPs who crossed the floor to vote in favour of decriminalising abortion in 2018, had on Thursday acknowledged there were different views on the issue in the party.

“There will be a variety of views on all of these sorts of matters, as there is across the board, in all parties, in all political persuasions,” he said.

Shadow Attorney-General Tim Nicholls crossed the floor to vote in favour of decriminalising abortion. Picture: Liam Kidston.

And Labor has used the LNP’s rigidity to its advantage, with Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman announcing a $20m funding boost for women’s health on the Sunshine Coast.

“We are expanding services that we know the LNP and Katter’s Party and One Nation all think should be illegal,” Mr Miles said.

“They’re all services that those parties don’t believe women should have access to.”

The Queensland Council of Unions, which has been spearheading the campaign claiming abortion rights are at risk should the LNP take government, released commissioned polling proving most voters believe women should have access to decriminalised abortion.

Three out of four Queenslanders believe legalising abortion and making it a healthcare issue was the right move — with support strongest in regional Queensland a new poll has revealed.

The poll conducted by Labor-aligned DemosAU revealed voters, regardless of age, region, gender, education level, or income, overwhelming support the decision to legalise abortion.

A whopping 73 per cent of LNP voters polled also indicated they agreed it was right that termination of pregnancy was taken out of criminal law and permitted as a matter of healthcare in 2018.

Originally published as ‘Not part of our plan’: LNP MPs and candidates gagged on abortion