Barnaby Joyce has joined anti-abortion campaigners in Sydney to pressure Nationals MPs to vote for a bill criminalising sex-selective abortions, ahead of a tight vote in the New South Wales upper house. The former deputy prime minister addressed a rally outside NSW Parliament on Tuesday night, telling the crowd of about 1,500 people to target sitting politicians on the issue.
“You must keep that fire burning for those people who can’t stand up for themselves, and I call them people, they’re not foetuses,” Joyce said. “Politically, does this make you popular? Nup, nup. Probably lose half the votes every time you do it. But you know why you do it? Because it’s the right thing to do.”
The bill, introduced by Libertarian upper house member John Ruddick, would ban abortions performed solely because of the sex of the foetus. Organiser Dr Joanna Howe told the crowd that the four Nationals members in the upper house were the only obstacle to the bill’s passage. “If the Nats don’t pass this bill, then One Nation is going to take your seats,” she said.
Health Minister Ryan Park criticised the bill, saying there was no evidence of sex-selective abortion occurring in NSW and that it would criminalise part of healthcare. The Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the bill was based on misinformation and aimed to restrict abortion access. Greens MP Dr Amanda Cohn said the bill targeted certain cultural groups and was “fuelled by racist and anti-immigration rhetoric”.
Howe described the rally as her biggest pro-life event yet and said she planned to organise grassroots campaigns in every Nationals-held seat ahead of the 2027 state election. She also intends to lobby for a ban on late-term abortions. A counter-protest of about 150 people gathered nearby, with one speaker warning that similar bans in the US had led to the overturning of Roe v Wade.
The bill will be debated in the NSW upper house on Wednesday and voted on in the coming days. If passed, it will proceed to the lower house. Labor, Liberal and National MPs have been granted conscience votes on the issue.
