Coalition not thanking Jacinta Price for raising abortion debate

Women’s reproductive rights are posing a serious headache for the Coalition as senior Liberals and Nationals try to hose down controversial statements made by one of their own.

Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has sparked an uproar in party ranks by publicly suggesting abortion should be a topic of national debate for the Coalition and that she “cannot agree” with later-term terminations.

Her definition of later term is anywhere past the first trimester, and that full-term abortion “becomes infanticide”.

Her comments in a media interview are reportedly not approved by the Coalition leadership.

But it has not stopped Labor from capitalising on the position and suggesting the Coalition will wind back abortion rights if they get into office.

A hot topic of the US Election has now reached Australian shores, with claims a future Coalition government would allow something similar to the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade that had, until then, given a constitutional right to abortion.

While former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce described Senator Price as brave for raising the topic, senior Coalition women have spent much of the week trying to hose down her comments.

Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie outright stated that Price’s remarks were not “helpful”.

It’s causing a problem for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who already has some difficulty appealing to women voters.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley, who is also the Shadow Minister for Women, repeatedly stated the party had no plans to change abortion laws nationally.

“It’s important to remember that access to abortion is a state issue, which is why you often see it debated at the state level, and we have no intention to change the settings from a federal health perspective,” she said in one media interview.

“Obviously, individuals have their own views, and Jacinta is entitled, as a member of the National Party, to her own view, but the federal Liberals have no intention of changing the settings when it comes to this issue.”

Senator Price is a member of the Northern Territory’s Country Liberal Party, which contests federal elections as an affiliate of both the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia.

Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume also moved to dismiss Price’s comments.

“A Dutton-led Coalition government has no plans, no policy and no interest in unwinding women’s reproductive rights,” she said.

Senator Hume also subsequently tried to stress that the issue is a matter for state governments.

“It’s not going to happen,” she said.

“It’s not an issue for the federal government. In the Liberal Party, it’s always been an issue of conscience, too, and rightly so.

“There are some deeply held views right around the country and that is fine. That’s why they call it choice.”

However, with the federal Coalition throwing the responsibility onto the states, it is not helping the Liberal National Party in Queensland, which no doubt would like to win this coming Saturday’s state election.

Queensland state opposition leader David Crisafulli has repeatedly refused to state his position on abortion, despite it having shaped up as a key election question.

During the final campaign debate with Premier Steven Miles on Tuesday (22 October), Crisafulli described attacks over abortion positions as nothing more than Labor “desperation” and a scare campaign before adding: “There will be no change at all. The scare campaign should not cut a single mention in your mind. Those laws will not change.”

Back at the federal level, Queensland’s National Senator Matt Canavan, who is strongly pro-life, doesn’t want to talk about it during the state election campaign or in the lead-up to the impending federal election.

“I don’t think this is an issue best prosecuted through the heat of an election campaign,” he said on Wednesday.

“I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by playing it out in a tit-for-tat type process.

“It’s a really sensitive issue for people, and I really feel for young mums who have been through this … I’m not ever going to have to experience that. I don’t think that says you can’t have a view on it, but I do try and be sensitive about it, but I’m not the one trying to raise this.”

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler issued a statement: “I am committed to ensuring that all Australian women have equitable access to the healthcare they need, particularly women in rural and regional areas and those experiencing disadvantage.”