No more Mister Nice Guy as Premier takes revenge for abortion scare campaign

Today was the start of the first full sitting week of Queensland’s new Parliament, and it marked an abrupt halt to the niceties of the official opening week.

Premier David Crisafulli dropped a stunning political bombshell immediately after Question Time, introducing sudden changes to the Standing Orders – Parliament’s operating rules – to block any changes to the state’s abortion laws.

This was, of course, the issue that threatened to derail the LNP’s election bid, due to a monumentally false campaign claiming a Crisafulli Government would make abortion a crime in Queensland.

After smarting over those lies for nearly two months, the Premier and his team surprised the Opposition today with a deft and extraordinary political move that, perversely, saw the LNP voting to protect abortion laws while Labor voted to allow them to be changed or repealed.

Labor took great joy in pointing out that the change also provides protection for the Premier from the risk of a Private Member’s Bill originating within his own party room or the cross bench, which would reignite the issue from the election campaign.

Cross-bench leader Robbie Katter, whose election campaign comments sparked the firestorm that threatened to torch the LNP campaign, further complained – reasonably – that an MP should not be gagged from introducing legislation for debate, regardless of the topic.

The Premier would, at his core, have a lot of sympathy for that concept.  But he would have no sympathy for the Katter Party, which caused him an anxious election night and doubtless cost some LNP candidates a place in the Parliament as the abortion debate monopolised media coverage.

Instead, Mr Crisafulli can now be sure to go to the 2028 election having honoured his commitment that there would be no changes to the abortion laws.  

And he will no doubt remind voters repeatedly that not only was the scare campaign utterly baseless, but it was actually the Labor Party that voted to allow Queensland’s abortion laws to be changed or repealed in future.

It was genius. It was ruthless. The gloves are off for this political term, and David Crisafulli has shown a flinty edge that’s not been publicly visible before now. It’s no more Mr Nice Guy.