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During their Senate speeches, Malcolm Roberts and David Fawcett explained why Australia is failing in its international commitment to uphold the right to life for children born after a failed abortion.

On Tuesday (20 August) United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet moved a motion of urgency over the fact that at least one baby is born alive after an abortion every week in Australia, without legal protection to the right to life.

18 senators from the Liberal, National and One Nation parties supported the motion. Senators Malcolm Roberts, Matthew Canavan, Matt O’Sullivan and David Fawcett gave speeches of endorsement.

Senator Malcolm Roberts: ‘There’s No Legal Grey Area Here’

Senator Malcolm Roberts strongly supported “this motion from Senator Babet in favour of saving the lives of babies born alive.”

Roberts based his argument on the health data from his home state of Queensland. “As Rhodes Scholar and leading researcher Professor Joanna Howe has found, between 2010 and 2020, 4,929 babies were killed after 20 weeks, and until birth. In Queensland, of these babies, 328 were born alive and left to die.”

Roberts then argued that this carried clear criminal consequences.

“Under the QLD Criminal Code the current law is clear. This is a crime.

“Section 292 provides that a child becomes a human being after being born and proceeds in a living state from the body of its mother, whether it has breathed or not, and whether it has had independent circulation or not.”

“Section 302 defines murder as by someone who: ‘intends to cause death’, which is the case with these 328 babies, or ‘causes death by an act, omission or reckless indifference to human life’.

“Currently the penalty for murder in Queensland is life. How ironic.”

“There’s no legal grey area here, allowing a child born alive to die in Queensland is a crime, and that crime is murder.”

“To the Queensland police I have this simple message: ‘Do your bl**dy job.’”

One argument against Babet’s motion of urgency and the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022 that was introduced by Senators Alex Antic, Matthew Canavan and Ralph Babet is that this is not an area for the Commonwealth Government. Instead, it is only a health issue – which falls under the jurisdiction of the states and territories.

Senator Roberts argues it is entirely appropriate – and necessary – that the Federal Government legislates this reform in child protection.

Roberts continued, “The preamble of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) explicitly recognizes the unborn’s right to life. This is a matter that can be legislated federally and if the States will not police their own laws then the Federal Government must intervene.”

“My office has received over 1000 emails and calls today from Queenslanders who are horrified at this practice. So much so I feel the need to remind everyone that while God loves everyone, God punishes killing.”

“These human babies deserve better. Babies deserve to have the same rights as have all human beings. And foremost amongst these is the right to life.”

The motion about babies born alive after an abortion is not a debate over the practice of abortion. It is about what must happen after a child is born alive unexpectedly after an abortion.

However, without abortion, there would be no need for the motion and the proposed Children Born Alive Protection Bill.

Senator Roberts is an outspoken critic of abortion. Every day in Parliament House, he wears a small lapel pin on his coat. The pin depicts the tiny feet of a 10-week-old infant, “a symbol of the innocent lives at stake” through the practice of abortion.

Roberts stated, “I have yet to hear an abortionist successfully explain at what point in the development of a child it ceases to be a collection of cells and becomes a baby.

“Until you can show a physiological point before which the child is just a bunch of cells, and after which the child is a living being, I will continue to defend every life and oppose abortion.

“Except abortion when the mother’s life is in danger.

“If these practitioners were proud of their actions, they would not be changing the name of their trade from abortion to reproductive care. There’s no reproduction and there’s no care for the child.

“At least be honest with yourselves, this is not care.

“This is designed to dehumanise mothers and fathers, dehumanise society and harden the hearts of our community.

“Neither can this be described as women’s health, the health of the mother is the same no matter if the baby is put up for adoption or murdered.

“Woman’s health does not apparently include the health of one-half of these aborted babies who themselves will grow into women.”

Senator David Fawcett: ‘Transparency Drives Change’

South Australian Senator David Fawcett also argued the motion was necessary.

He began, “I rise to support this matter of urgency because it is a fact that transparency and the awareness of issues drives change.”

“This motion just draws attention to a practice, as we saw from the inquiry in Queensland yesterday, in evidence which has been reported both in print media and on the radio, and highlights that despite the assurances of many – ‘This is very rare’ and ‘It doesn’t happen in certain hospitals’ – practitioners on the ground have said it does happen.”

“But the bill that Senator Canavan referred to before, which has been subject to an inquiry through the Senate, sought to use the external affairs power under the Constitution to hold state governments and the actions of medical practitioners to account because of the international treaties that Australia has signed up to recognising the right to life for people and the rights of the child.”

“The consequence for the children, and I will call them that, the babies that are born is that they deserve care.”

Senator Fawcett’s comments on Australia’s international human rights obligations are particularly powerful given his position as the Deputy Chair of the Parliament’s powerful and largest committee – the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. This committee also has oversight of human rights matters.

The external affairs power under the Constitution gives the Federal Government the authority to hold States to account for international treaties to which we have signed up.

Australia’s International Obligations

By “the international treaties that Australia has signed up to”, Senator Fawcett is referring to two international treaties.

In 1980, Australia ratified the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. By doing so, Australia committed itself to this proposition, found in Article 6: “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”

Then in 1990, Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As outlined in the Canberra Declaration’s submission on the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022, Article 6 of the convention commits Australia to recognise that “every child has the inherent right to life”.

Article 6 also commits the nation to ensure “to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child”.

In addition, Article 24 of the convention mandates Australia to uphold “the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health”.

Australia has agreed “to strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services”.

The Canberra Declaration’s submission concludes, “In short, Australia has committed to reducing the deaths of babies, to giving every child access to healthcare, and ensuring that every child’s sacred right to life is protected.

“Australia has long been regarded as a world-leading nation in protecting human rights.

“It goes without saying that we will always have room for improvement. Nowhere is this fact more obvious than in regards to children who are born alive as a result of abortion and are subsequently left to die.

“This is a moral stain on our nation and a serious breach of our international human rights commitments.”

As Senators Roberts and Fawcett have argued, if the states and territories fail to uphold the right to life of children, “the Federal Government must intervene.”