Paid parental leave bill: Conservative MPs Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce argue late-term abortion risk

A string of conservative MPs have told Parliament they are concerned that legislation aimed at ensuring people who have stillbirths can take their pre-arranged paid parental leave while grieving could support or encourage people to have late-term abortions.

One said that “people who don’t wish to be parents” shouldn’t be allowed to take parental leave.

This comment came despite the Coalition party room deciding on Tuesday to back the legislation.

Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth said the critical piece of legislation didn’t create any new entitlements to parental leave and should get the backing of the Parliament while Health Minister Mark Butler labelled the comments “deeply cynical politicking”.

The discussion around late-term abortions – after about 22 weeks of pregnancy – has become increasingly politically charged despite experts saying it is statistically very rare in Australia.

Barnaby Joyce, Andrew Hastie, Tony Pasin and Henry Pike used speeches in the little-watched Federation Chamber on Wednesday morning to outline their concerns.

Tony Pasin, a South Australian Liberal, says it appeared to be an “unintended consequence” of the bill that it would treat an “intentionally aborted baby” the same way as a stillbirth or a baby who died shortly after birth.

“Paid parental leave … should be available to people who are parents. It should be available to people who wish to be parents, but for the grace of God, have not become parents through that incident or outcome,” he said.

“But it shouldn’t be available, it shouldn’t be available to people who don’t wish to be parents.”

A similar line of argument has previously been raised by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Barnaby Joyce – still a National Party member despite this week removing himself from its party room and reports he’s looking to join One Nation – called on the minister to clarify the definition of who the changes applied to, saying if it encompassed late-term abortion, “that takes it into a completely different realm”.

“On the extension of it, if that’s where it goes, we have every right not to vote for it,” he said.

Andrew Hastie said the intention to give certainty to families suffering after losing a baby was a “noble, good thing”, but he too expressed concern about unintended consequences.

“It’s no secret that I’m opposed to late-term abortions,” he said.

Labor’s Jerome Laxale pushed back in the chamber, telling the MPs opposing that the bill was about fixing a loophole in workplace law identified by grieving parents, and only about that.

“It’s not about anything else. It’s not about a culture war. It’s a bill born from heartbreak and from the hope of Baby Priya’s parents,” he said.

Mr Butler later said the conservatives’ comments were “very inflammatory and pretty distressing” and pointed out that no Coalition woman he echoed them.

“To try to conflate the two things is I think a very cynical deeply distressing political exercise. The men who are doing this — and they’re all men — know the difference between still birth and abortion,” he said.

“I say to them, enough. Just stop it. This is legislation dealing with about 3000 families in our community that go through one of the most distressing events imaginable, we’re just trying to give them a bit of support. The definitions are clear, just stop it.”

Ms Rishworth said the legislation used existing definitions to clarify what would happen to employer-funded paid parental leave for parents dealing with the tragedy of a stillbirth or the death of a child.

“We are deeply disappointed that a very small minority have tried to hijack this bill and pretend it’s about something that it’s not,” she told The Nightly.

“The loss of a child is devastating. It has a profound and long-lasting impact on parents, families and their communities. These are incredibly difficult circumstances for workers and employers to navigate.

“What this bill is about is giving certainty to grieving parents at the most difficult time of their life.”

Shadow workplace relations minister Tim Wilson had said on Tuesday night he was proud the Coalition would back the legislation.

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