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Robbie Katter’s motion to overturn the Queensland parliament ban on abortion debate has failed, but not before one LNP MP sensationally voted against his party due to his pro-life convictions.

There has been a small win in the fight to overturn the gagging of debate on abortion in the Queensland parliament.

LNP MP for Mackay Nigel Dalton crossed the floor to vote against party lines in a motion by Katter’s party leader Robbie Katter to overturn the gag order.

The Katter’s motion was defeated 50 votes to 37.

The gag had been implemented with no notice by the Crisafulli government at the beginning of their term of government.

Nigel Dalton: ‘Deeply Personal Decision’

Speaking to the media outside the parliamentary chamber on Tuesday, Mr Dalton stated, “I made a deeply personal decision today and I hope that people respect that personal decision that I’ve made”. In doing so, he made a deft use of what is normally a pro-abortion activism response to scrutiny. He maintained this response in the face of repeated follow-up questions.

Premier Crisafulli has indicated that Mr Dalton would not be penalised for crossing the floor and that he had come to him the day before.

Member for Mackay Nigel Dalton in the Queensland Parliament. Image: Facebook.

Robbie Katter expressed gratitude, yet surprise, for Dalton’s supporting vote, describing the move as “an outstanding display of bravery from an MP who followed his conscience.”

He further labelled the move “a very rare occurrence that I’ve seen in my 14 years of parliament, where someone crossed the floor.”

“It’s fair to say there are certain members of the LNP who believed it was the right thing to do, to vote for that motion, and it didn’t happen”, he said.

Abortion Scare-Campaign against Crisafulli and the Gag Order

In the campaign period leading up to the October 2024 election, LNP leader David Crisafulli found his campaign faltering under repeated questioning over any plans to repeal the 2018 Termination of Pregnancy Act which was passed under Labor. The legislation made abortion legal at any stage of pregnancy, and the potential for change was used as a scare campaign by incumbent Labor.

Crisafulli had been asked about it by media more than 130 times in a three-week period, despite stating there were “no plans” to change the law. It was also a major stumbling block in the leaders debate against incumbent premier Steven Miles when he was unable to defend against the pro-abortion questioning of whether he supported a woman’s ‘right to choose’.

Crisafulli was finally able to put the major distraction to bed and return to unencumbered campaigning. But this was quickly undone in the final week of the election campaign. A secret recording of LNP candidate Freya Ostapovitch was reported in which she told a voter she was pro-life, but “I can’t say anything yet because we have got to get elected before we do anything”.

The comments were immediately seized upon by Labor leader Steven Miles, forcing Crisafulli’s hand in emphatically declaring, “I want Queenslanders to know that is the position of our team. There will be no change to the abortion act; that’s not a periphery, that’s not wriggle room. There will be no change to the abortion act, and that is the position of our team”.

The ensuing gag order prevented the possibility of the issue returning during their term in office, and subsequently risking the LNP becoming a one-term government. The LNP suffered that exact fate the last time they were in government under then-premier Campbell Newman.

Leaked Photo of Dead Baby Samuel Sparks Rally

But pro-life activist Dr Joanna Howe has attacked Crisafulli’s gagging of abortion debate at a baby Samuel rally in Brisbane on Monday evening.

Photo: Thousands stand outside Queensland Parliament House on Monday night in support of baby Samuel.

The rally was instigated after a photo was leaked by a Queensland Health worker who witnessed the demise of a 16-week gestation baby who initially survived an abortion procedure. Named “Samuel” by Howe, he was left naked on a cloth in an air-conditioned room with no medical assistance allowed. The baby, who had his thumb in his mouth, succumbed after 30 minutes of trying to breathe with underdeveloped lungs.

The rally was organised by Dr Joanna Howe and Cherish Life Queensland, with Family Voice, Church and State, Answers in Genesis, Australian Family Association, Pro-life Health Professionals Australia, Tradies and Babies, Bird Flip, and the Australian Christian Lobby.

Crisafulli Criticism

Howe said, “The first thing he did was sign the death warrant on tens of thousands of Queensland babies. So, David Crisafulli does have blood on his hands because when you are the premier, when you have been given the responsibility of leadership, when we the people that trusted you to represent us, that is what we expect. We expect you to stand up for the weak, for the vulnerable, for those who have no voice.”

Pro-life activist Prof Joanna Howe addresses the crowd.

She went on to say that he was a weak man, further stating, “I might be five foot small, but I am stronger than David Crisafulli”, to the cheers of the crowd.

“I am going to call it. … David Crisafulli, he is a weak man because he threw the babies under the bus for the sake of his own power. He is scared. He’s scared of the ABC. He’s scared of The Guardian. He’s scared of Channel Nine. He is scared of the media and the hit pieces”, she added.

Howe then stated to a crowd completely filling the entire space outside the Queensland parliament that pro-abortion rallies “don’t even get a third of the people” that pro-life rallies do and that people have woken up. She later called out MPs who stated they were Christian when chasing votes for election, but weren’t speaking up publicly against abortion when in office.

Robbie Katter MP told the crowd, “I feel very uncomfortable making a big deal about this because really it should just be what we do as politicians: look after our most vulnerable. It shouldn’t be anything special.” He stated that his intention wasn’t to shame the government and that it was instead about making people do the right thing.

Rally organisers led the crowd in chanting “end the gag”.

Robbie Katter speaking at Monday evening’s rally.

Church and State founder Dave Pellowe also spoke at the rally and accused the LNP government of “running a protection racket for killers,” stating, “The first thing they did when they got into government was to ensure they raised a shield to protect Labor’s abortion laws which rival the worst in the world.”

Pellowe also illuminated the irony that Labor, who passed the abortion bill, were now going to vote for the Katter motion in what was akin to a pro-life stance. “But it is the (LNP) so-called ‘right of Stalin party’ which are banning debate and running an effective dictatorship in the Queensland Parliament. Why is Labor suddenly in favour of free speech and Crisafulli isn’t? Is he in the pocket of the abortion industry? I don’t know. It’s inexplicable”, he added.

He called on the crowd to keep on judging their politicians and holding them to a high standard, but also that they themselves needed to maintain that same standard.

Dave Pellowe during the rally.

In a nod to the pressures that the pro-life Christian MPs find themselves under, Pellowe stated, “I understand the immense amount of pressure and spiritual warfare that they faced. I empathise with it.

“But it was never unclear what was right and what was wrong.”

Speaking to the ABC after the motion was voted down on Tuesday, Labor Shadow Health Minister Shannon Fentiman accused pro-life MPs of having “quite backward” and “outdated” views on abortion.

Fentiman defended Labor’s support of lifting “the gag on the parliament discussing abortion because we believe that we should have the ability to continue to improve a woman’s right to seek [abortion].”

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Images via Facebook and supplied.