The abortion wildcard
The Queensland election has underscored how much ground can be made up during a few weeks of a campaign. Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will be taking notes.
To those outside Queensland, it may come across as oddly American that the final weeks of the state election campaign have been dominated by the issue of abortion rights.
Abortion was legalised in Queensland in 2018, making it available on request in the first 22 weeks of pregnancy, and later with the approval of two doctors. Before that, abortion was unlawful in the state unless a doctor had a reasonable belief that a woman's physical or mental health was at risk.
In the 2018 parliamentary vote, only three Liberal National MPs supported the bill to legalise abortion, and the party’s now leader David Crisafulli voted against it.
That vote, combined with KAP leader Robbie Katter’s recent threat to repeal the laws, has given Labor Premier Steven Miles the opportunity to launch an almighty scare campaign against Crisafulli in the final weeks of the campaign. This is despite Crisafulli promising that the current laws will remain unchanged and (eventually) clarifying that he is personally supportive of a woman’s right to choose.
