The Queensland crossbencher Robbie Katter says he will consider forcing a vote on the recriminalisation of abortion if the Liberal National party wins government at this month’s state election.
Katter says he will table legislation to wind back current laws with one option a “clean repeal” of Labor’s 2018 Termination of Pregnancy Act, a move that would return abortion to the 1899 criminal code.
Amid growing controversy, with two LNP MPs supportive of changes to the current laws, the opposition leader, David Crisafulli, was repeatedly asked about the issue on Wednesday.
But he remained tight-lipped on the prospect of a conscience vote for his MPs – and on his personal views on the issue.
“It’s not part of our plan” and “there’ll be no change”, he repeatedly said as he campaigned in Townsville.
Crisafulli voted against the 2018 legalisation.
Katter, the Katter’s Australian party leader, introduced a bill last parliament to ban “partial birth” abortion, but it lapsed before going to a vote. On Tuesday he declared he would introduce another abortion bill, but gave few details.
Katter told Guardian Australia he would determine how strong to make his private members’ bill based on how many conservative LNP members were elected.
In case of an LNP landslide, he would aim for a 16-week limit, if not a “clean repeal” of the 2018 bill, he said.
“All I could say is, everything will be on the table because we’re very serious about our position on this,” he said. “So we would be looking to wind back as much as we could.”
The last Queenslander to be prosecuted for getting an abortion beat the charge in 2010. At the time, women needed to prove they had a reasonable belief it was necessary to protect the woman’s physical or mental wellbeing.
‘Back to the dark ages’
Jill McKay, the CEO of Children by Choice, said a repeal of the 2018 act would cause clinics to close and force many women to “flee the border” into New South Wales.
“If we don’t have the Termination of Pregnancy Act in place, then we return back to the dark ages,” McKary said. “[There is] complete concern that women and pregnant people and children that chose to end a pregnancy by abortion could be charged.”
The premier, Steven Miles, said his party would be granted a conscience vote – but would all vote no on any bill.
“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 women’s right to choose. And you know what the LNP MPs’ consciences say too; they are overwhelmingly opposed to a woman’s right to choose.”
Miles pointed out that all LNP MPs voted against a bill allowing nurses to prescribe the medical abortion drug MS-2 Step.
“We know that there will be a bill next term and MPs should tell their constituents, or candidates should tell voters how they would vote on that bill,” Miles said.
Public remarks by a series of LNPs MPs backing a repeal bill have been reported in recent days.
The Australian newspaper revealed this week that the Scenic Rim MP Jon Krause told a candidates’ forum that “we need to ensure that there are enough people in the parliament to be able to repeal those laws or to make significant amendments”.
Guardian Australia revealed on Wednesday that the retiring rightwinger Mark Robinson told a Christian podcast in August there “are no doubt corrections that will happen over time”.
“I see our values are very firmly anchored in family values,” Robinson said.
“And when I go to state council – and I cannot talk about the fine detail of some of that – our policies are very much a broad suite of family values.
“And so I think that, as we go forward, I think people would expect that whatever the future government faces, whatever comes up in that time, it would need to reference it back to what those family policies of the party and the general expectations of Queenslanders are. That’s how I think [changes to abortion laws] will be framed.”
The LNP has not responded to requests by groups – including pro-choice advocates and the Christian lobby – to make clear its position.
