Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, October twenty four. Treasury Jim Chalmers is off
Speaker 1: to Washington, DC for meetings of the World Bank and
Speaker 1: the International Monetary Fund. He'll spend time with top us
Speaker 1: economic officials who are forecasting trouble ahead for Australia when
Speaker 1: it comes to inflation and growth. Former nine Entertainment chairman
Speaker 1: Peter Costello has made his most high profile appearance since
Speaker 1: departing the company. He blasted former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews
Speaker 1: at a conference in Sydney, saying the state's COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: restrictions were moronic. Those stories alive right now at the
Speaker 1: Australian dot com AU. Three sleeps to go until Queenslander's
Speaker 1: design to kick out a long term labor government and
Speaker 1: give the LNP a go Today, how the big issues
Speaker 1: are shaping up as the polls titan.
Speaker 2: Here in Queensland. For about a year there was no
Speaker 2: changes to the polls. Really, it wasn't looking good for labor.
Speaker 2: In the last few weeks we've seen in the published
Speaker 2: poll by Resolve the two party preferred scenes to be tightening.
Speaker 1: That's Lydia Lynch, one of the Australian's reporters in Queensland.
Speaker 2: It still suggests that David Christophiley and the LMP will
Speaker 2: pull through with a majority government on Saturday, and some
Speaker 2: of the internal polling from Labor suggests the same thing
Speaker 2: that the race is tightening in Brisbane.
Speaker 1: Lydia and our bureau in the Sunshine State have been
Speaker 1: churning out the scoops for weeks now in what's turned
Speaker 1: out to be an action packed election campaign. The vote
Speaker 1: is this Saturday, October twenty six. The accepted wisdom is
Speaker 1: this the long serving Labor government has done its dash
Speaker 1: and won't get another term. The Premier, Stephen Miles had
Speaker 1: the job land in his lap when the former Premier
Speaker 1: Anastasia Palichet quit just before Christmas.
Speaker 3: I have given it my all and I've run a marathon.
Speaker 3: Standing here today and standing up for the people of
Speaker 3: Queenslane has been an honor of my life. I don't
Speaker 3: believe anyone who comes after me well know how humbling
Speaker 3: it is.
Speaker 1: Miles is up against it. He's got major problems delivering
Speaker 1: his ambitions for renewable energy projects. He came up with
Speaker 1: a plan to give free lunches to primary school kids,
Speaker 1: but had to admit it would add one point four
Speaker 1: billion dollars to the state's debt. He's dealing with widespread
Speaker 1: perceptions that he's beholden to the powerful union movement, which,
Speaker 1: thanks to political donation laws, is able to spend much
Speaker 1: more than the parties themselves to influence votes in individual seats.
Speaker 1: But the campaign has also seen the opposition leader, the
Speaker 1: Liberal National Party's David Chris a fully struggle at times.
Speaker 1: One of his battles has been abortion policy. Chris Afuley
Speaker 1: does not want to be talking about abortion.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to join the campaign conversation about this
Speaker 2: because I've made more.
Speaker 3: Positions very clear, and my position is here will be
Speaker 3: no change.
Speaker 1: David chris Afuley, like most other members of his party,
Speaker 1: voted against decriminalizing abortion back in twenty eighteen, and during
Speaker 1: Tuesday night's leader's debate, Miles goaded him into making his
Speaker 1: stance and his personal position clear. Give a straight answer.
Speaker 3: Okay, there will be no change, none at all.
Speaker 1: Are your protress or not.
Speaker 2: There will be no change.
Speaker 4: The legislation is there and women will have access to
Speaker 4: that legislation.
Speaker 1: Do you believe in a woman's right to choose? Yes
Speaker 1: or no?
Speaker 4: Well, it probably won't work for his TikTok.
Speaker 1: But yes, Oh that got you, didn't it.
Speaker 4: Why do you vote against?
Speaker 2: Yes? Why you vote against?
Speaker 3: My question to you, Bremier.
Speaker 1: He also doesn't want to talk about his record in business.
Speaker 1: Here he is with another of our reporters, Sarah Elks,
Speaker 1: a few days back, why did you leave Southern Edge
Speaker 1: Training on April one in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: Because my promise capital didn't come true?
Speaker 3: I was in the business performer and I met every
Speaker 3: single one of my old bats.
Speaker 1: Chris A Foley knows the key to winning this election
Speaker 1: is painting labor as tired, bloated and out of ideas,
Speaker 1: and to tell Queensland is what he's going to do
Speaker 1: about the cost of living, the price of energy and
Speaker 1: youth crime. David Chris A Foley has just got a
Speaker 1: gift one of his bugbears. Abortion polar might have disappeared
Speaker 1: as an issue.
Speaker 4: They're scrambling. So it happens with liberal and labor. It's
Speaker 4: happened with Liberal this time. They've been found ty rot
Speaker 4: two horses at once.
Speaker 1: This is Robbie catter An independent talking on Sky News Australia.
Speaker 1: He's the son of one of Queensland's most famous fire brands,
Speaker 1: Bob Catter. Earlier in the campaign, Robbie Catter flagged that
Speaker 1: if he's reelected, which he will be, he'd introduced legislation
Speaker 1: to the Parliament, effectively banning abortion in Queensland. As in
Speaker 1: the rest of Australia, abortion is basically safe, legal and rare.
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, the Queensland Labor government removed abortion from
Speaker 1: the Criminal Code, but the then opposition gave its MPs
Speaker 1: a conscience vote on the issue. The vast majority of
Speaker 1: them voted to keep abortion as a criminal offense. This
Speaker 1: is why it's hot for David Chris A Fuley. Many
Speaker 1: of his own MPs hold strong anti abortion beliefs and
Speaker 1: want him to take action, and the wild card is Catter,
Speaker 1: a Cross bencher who's determined to get this issue back
Speaker 1: on the table. Kata says the L and P is
Speaker 1: trying to ride two horses at once. That is, MPs
Speaker 1: are concerned about what conservative regional voters think and Chris
Speaker 1: A Fooley is trying to make sure he doesn't get
Speaker 1: obliterated in the more progressive Brisbane seats. Chris Afooley didn't
Speaker 1: want this election to turn into a referendum on abortion.
Speaker 2: He did not want to talk about it. We asked
Speaker 2: him dozens and dozens and dozens of questions about his
Speaker 2: personal position on abortion, why he decided to vote against
Speaker 2: removing it from the Criminal Code back in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 2: and asking him whether he would allow his MPs a
Speaker 2: conscience vote if there was a bell brought to the
Speaker 2: Parliament in this next term, assuming that they won the election.
Speaker 2: He repeatedly refused to answer those questions. The thing that
Speaker 2: really kicked it off with some of his MPs were
Speaker 2: out there in the community at public forums speaking about
Speaker 2: their wish for or abortion access to be restricted, and
Speaker 2: some about legislation to be repealed. And then we had
Speaker 2: a Cross bencher, Robbie Catter, who holds one of the
Speaker 2: safest seats in the state, coming out saying he planned
Speaker 2: to introduce legislation to the next parliament to restrict access
Speaker 2: to abortion or to even repeal about legislation.
Speaker 4: What I'm determined to do is put back in the
Speaker 4: Baby's Born Live Bill, which is really just micking what
Speaker 4: is the Code of Practice code in Queens and health
Speaker 4: right now, what you're saying, if the babies planned abortion
Speaker 4: comes out breathing the heartbeat, I'm probably going to struggle
Speaker 4: for life, but that they can just give us some
Speaker 4: care and dignity. It's a human rights issue. It's not
Speaker 4: an abortion issue.
Speaker 1: To me. Katter's bill is about babies who after a
Speaker 1: termination procedure show signs of life. There's not a lot
Speaker 1: of evidence about how often this occurs, if at all,
Speaker 1: but it would require doctors and nurses to give the
Speaker 1: same level of care in this instance as they would
Speaker 1: to any other patient. There have been some harrowing claims
Speaker 1: that fetuses have showed signs of life after an abortion.
Speaker 2: So I was actually just on the phone to Robbie
Speaker 2: and what he said to me is that some of
Speaker 2: the operating guidelines in hospitals changed about a year or
Speaker 2: two years ago. And his concern is that when a
Speaker 2: woman has an abortion and the fetus is still viable
Speaker 2: or still alive after that abortion, that there's not enough
Speaker 2: medical intervention happening or comfort given to that child. But
Speaker 2: he is quite passionate about the fact that there should
Speaker 2: be some changes around this or tightening of these guidelines.
Speaker 2: He says to me, this is his first priority and
Speaker 2: it is a test for him to see if he
Speaker 2: would be willing to put in more legislation. So say
Speaker 2: he puts this bill to the Parliament and no lmpmps
Speaker 2: come out to support it, he says he's not going
Speaker 2: to hammer a moot point. He will pursue other issues
Speaker 2: that are important to him and the Cutters Australia Party
Speaker 2: around crocodiles and whatnot. But if there is some signaling
Speaker 2: of support around this, he's willing to go further in
Speaker 2: terms of looking at counseling arrangements, maybe lowering the gestation
Speaker 2: limit of when an abortion can be accessed on request
Speaker 2: and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's that broader legislation which creates an issue
Speaker 1: for David Chris A Fuley, isn't it, because he'd then
Speaker 1: be under pressure to offer his MPs a conscience vote
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 2: That's right, and so this does take the heat out
Speaker 2: of it because we saw when the Catters put this
Speaker 2: bill into the last Parliament, it was killed off in
Speaker 2: the committee process and nothing really ever came about and
Speaker 2: then we went into a campaign. So it could be
Speaker 2: the case that David Christophiley won't actually have to address
Speaker 2: the issue of abortion during his first term if he wins.
Speaker 1: Labour says the bill is unnecessary as medical practitioners already
Speaker 1: have a duty of care to everyone, and the Royal
Speaker 1: Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists actively
Speaker 1: opposes Katter's bill, saying it would reduce access to abortion
Speaker 1: because doctors would be afraid of prosecution. On Tuesday, Katta
Speaker 1: walked back his position, saying he'd reintroduce this bill to Parliament,
Speaker 1: but he wouldn't immediately attempt laws that would recriminalize abortion.
Speaker 1: In fact, he indicated he was doubtful even the Babies
Speaker 1: Born Alive bill would get through parliament.
Speaker 4: That's what we've determined to put back in. We've put
Speaker 4: it in the last parliament. It didn't even get that
Speaker 4: didn't even get support from Lebel and Labor in the
Speaker 4: committee system. I want to put that in first into
Speaker 4: the next parliament and we'll see.
Speaker 1: So you're not expecting any progress here.
Speaker 4: No, we're definitely going to put the Babies Born Lie
Speaker 4: but I think unlikely given that the committee from Middle
Speaker 4: Light they both hadn't supported.
Speaker 2: Even then, abortion was a really intense issue in the
Speaker 2: sort of middle two weeks of the campaign, something that
Speaker 2: Labor really seized on and David Chrysophial he really didn't
Speaker 2: want to talk about. But now it seems that the
Speaker 2: heat has come out of the issue and it's something
Speaker 2: that David Chrysophally might not actually have to deal with
Speaker 2: during his next term if he wins.
Speaker 1: After the break, Why labor is worrying about seats it's
Speaker 1: held for more than a century. More than a million
Speaker 1: Queenslanders have already cast their votes, so what does that mean.
Speaker 2: Lots of people have been voting early. We saw that
Speaker 2: trend really kick off in COVID when people wanted to
Speaker 2: get their votes out of the way and try to
Speaker 2: socially distance from people. So we've had more than a
Speaker 2: million people cast their votes ahead of Saturday's election. One
Speaker 2: of the things that political commentators and political brains say
Speaker 2: is that a big turnout in early voting suggests that
Speaker 2: there's a big swing on against the government. People are
Speaker 2: so mad they just can't wait to go in and
Speaker 2: punish them at the ballot box. That's just some people's theory,
Speaker 2: but it could be the case.
Speaker 1: It's a bit of a last minute scramble for both
Speaker 1: leaders now Stephen Miles seems to be attempting to consolidate
Speaker 1: some of the Labor seats that have been held by
Speaker 1: the party for a very long time. What's David Chrysophalli's
Speaker 1: strategy in the last few days of the campaign.
Speaker 2: We've spent the last two days up in North Queensland
Speaker 2: and Central Queensland visiting seats in Townsville which are really
Speaker 2: key to David Christofully's final push for government. There's three
Speaker 2: seats in Townsville, all held by Labor. He is pretty
Speaker 2: confident he'll be able to pick those up. We stopped
Speaker 2: into Rockhampton, which is surprisingly become one of the most
Speaker 2: interesting seats to watch of this campaign. And the reason
Speaker 2: I say it's interesting is because it's been in Labor
Speaker 2: hands for one hundred years, this seat, and I think
Speaker 2: I've been to Rockhampton maybe four times in the last
Speaker 2: month with both leaders. There's an independent running there who
Speaker 2: a former Labor mayor. It will be really a three
Speaker 2: way race in rock Hampton as well as MacKaye. That's
Speaker 2: another century seat as they call them, for Labor. It's
Speaker 2: been held by the ALP for one hundred and fifteen years,
Speaker 2: I think, but the LMP is increasingly confident that it
Speaker 2: will be able to win MacKaye from Labor. So we're
Speaker 2: seeing Stephen Miles running an incredibly defensive strategy up and
Speaker 2: down the coast, sandbagging safe labor seats or seats once
Speaker 2: considered to be safe for Labor, and David Christop fully
Speaker 2: really hitting those regions hard.
Speaker 1: Lydia Lynch is a reporter in the Australian's Queensland Bureau.
Speaker 1: Speaking of elections. In less than two weeks, Americans will
Speaker 1: vote for a new president. You can keep up to
Speaker 1: date with all the latest scoops and analysis on the
Speaker 1: US election campaign right now at the Australian dot com
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