Page 3809 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 27 August 2008
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(5) providing greater support to women who experience crisis pregnancies is a matter of the greatest importance.”.
I am going to speak to that amendment now. I will deal with the first issue listed, which is that:
the issue of abortion has traditionally been a conscience vote for members of all major parties in all Australian jurisdictions;
I think this principle is an extremely important one. Let me say this: I presume that the government and the ACT Legislative Assembly will demonstrate maturity by honouring this convention, and by not politicising the abortion debate by attacking MLAs’ personal positions. Every politician in every parliament in the Westminster world is able to undertake a conscience vote on a range of matters.
The abortion debate is one of those quite often seen across our Western world parliaments—and developing country parliaments, by the way. A conscience vote is allowed for members on both sides of the parliament. I would be interested to see whether all Labor members will be able to speak freely here today and as freely as we are on this side of the chamber about this very important and very sensitive issue. I would be very interested to see whether that is the case.
I say again that I presume the government party in this Assembly will honour this convention and not seek to ridicule and attack here today—or beyond today through the media—individual MLAs in this place for the positions they hold in this very sensitive debate. It is a very important but sensitive debate.
The second paragraph that I speak to in my amendment states:
members of the Assembly and the community have a range of views on this subject;
That is a reality. That is a reality that this Legislative Assembly must honour and respect. Across the ACT community we have a range of views, some of which are political. We have a range of views, some of which are of a religious nature. And we have a range of views which may, in fact, simply be cultural or family oriented.
Every person in the ACT has a right to contribute to this debate. It is a very important debate. It goes to the heart and soul of a range of family and social issues. That is why I seek to move in this amendment that we honour that particular principle. I will have a bit more to say about this shortly.
The third paragraph of my amendment states:
regardless of those views, the incidence of abortion in our society is a concern;
Mr Assistant Speaker, I do not know whether you spoke to that particular point. You might want to clarify the position in your closing remarks. Did you say that the incidence of abortion in our society is a concern? We will see. It is a concern. It is a reality and we have to deal with it. That is why we do not drive it underground. That
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