Queensland Parliament has been banned from discussing abortion for four years following a surprise motion by Premier David Crisafulli in what he called an “unprecedented” move.
The motion also seeks to invalidate “motions or amendments” that would require the House to “express a position” on abortion.
Opposition and cross-party MPs described the move as “unusual” and “unprecedented”.
There was no notice of the move until Mr Crisafulli introduced it to Parliament after question period. After only 30 minutes of debate, the Liberal National Party's majority was used to force a vote.
All 50 LNP MPs present voted in favor of the motion, with 35 Labor MPs and three Cutters Australia MPs voting against it.
Crisafulli said his motion ended a “shameful… American-style campaign of fear.” The issue dominated the recent Queensland election campaign.
“I said from day one that that was not part of our plan,” Crisafulli said.
“We said there would be no change. And yet, Labor knew this, yet the social media tsunami and vile phone calls continued unabated. They Millions of dollars were spent on a shameful fear campaign.”
Abortion dogged the LNP during the election period.
Mr Crisafulli could not rule out holding a conscience vote on the issue, despite being asked to do so dozens of times. Many of his members of Congress admit to being anti-abortion.
Opposition Leader Stephen Miles said the move was “unusual”.
“Mr. Chairman, this is an extraordinary scene. I don't think I've ever seen anything as extraordinary as what they did at the last meeting. But this was without any notice, without any discussion. Such vile and vile treatment without any advice to the media. [of a serious issue]”
Several Labor MPs said the motion would prevent Parliament from extending legal protections for abortion services.
Labor MP Shannon Fentiman said: 'If there is further development of the TGA to further strengthen the scope of practice for medical professionals and make it easier for women to work, Parliament cannot debate the issue. Deaf,” he said. “These reforms would not be possible if women needed more protection from going to abortion clinics.
“This is amazing, unprecedented, and we should be ashamed that this state is so clearly against women's rights that they have to gag their own members for four years. Shame. “
Crossbench MP Robbie Cutter has repeatedly vowed to reintroduce his party's Born Live Babies Bill, which would regulate abortion providers, which would almost certainly force a vote on the issue. It's going to happen.
Cutter said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon that this is the beginning of a slippery slope.
“Can they put forward a similar motion for something that they don't want debated in this whole House and say we don't want it debated for the rest of this House?” he said. I did.
“This undermines every inch of democracy that exists in this state.”
