Yesterday’s shocking betrayal in the Queensland Parliament by Christians and conservatives of our most vulnerable citizens had its genesis more than 12 months ago.

Then Opposition Leader now Premier David Crisafulli surprised everyone with a captain’s call that there would be no change to Queensland’s brutal abortion-to-birth laws under a government he led.

Despite this, none of the pro-life people in his team pushed back publicly.

The church was silent.

There is a direct line between that silence and yesterday’s vote.

One man who was not silent was Katters’ Australia Party Leader Robbie Katter.

Encouraged by the Australian Christian Lobby, Katter lobbed a bill mid-year in the Parliament requiring medical care to be rendered to babies born alive after failed late term abortions.

Yes folks it happens. The federal Parliamentary Library has confirmed hundreds of babies die this way.

Whistle-blower midwife Louise Adsett told the Parliamentary inquiry into Katter’s bill that babies were gasping for up to five hours with no medical care before dying.

She choked back tears while giving testimony.

Around one baby per week in Australia survives his or her late abortion and is left to die.

As Crisafulli got into the election campaign, media asked him about Katter’s bill.

Labor was disingenuously saying Katter’s proposed reforms to care for babies born alive amounted to an attack on “abortion care” – a euphemism for killing a woman’s unborn baby.

Crisafulli was spooked.

Instead of saying the obvious – that is that most Queenslanders would be concerned about babies being born alive and left to die – Crisafulli doubled down on his earlier captain’s call.

He said there would be no change to laws which allow babies to be aborted for psychosocial reasons to birth.

Knowing there were lots of pro-life LNP members and candidates, the media kept at Crisafulli.

Even Christians LNP members and candidates who had long courted pro-life votes capitulated, bowing to Crisafulli’s unethical edict.

Others obfuscated when the television lights were in their eyes.

Crisafulli even revoked the long-standing conscience vote given to LNP members on matters of life and death.

That was a tectonic shift, but it was met with silence from LNP members.

Only the member for Scenic Rim John Krause and Tony Perrot from Gympie defied Crisafulli by speaking about abortion on the campaign trail.

But yesterday, even they, along with all of the Christian and pro-life MPs folded and voted with Crisafulli as he moved a motion to ban discussion on abortion-to-birth in the Queensland Parliament for the next four years.

Babies born alive after abortions can now no longer be discussed in the seat of Queensland democracy.

This was not the totalitarian Left at work; it was the LNP.

Before the votes were cast, Katter rose to his feet to defend babies.

“We cannot ignore that this is a big issue,” he pleaded.

“There are kids dying in bins—and that was from the coroner’s report. That is not speculation; that is not disputed.

“There are kids whose hearts were still pumping—and some would question whether they were alive or not—but they are being thrown in a waste bin. That is a pretty big issue.”

What Katter said about dying kids’ hearts failed to move the hearts of LNP politicians.

“Whether we think it is right or wrong or will end on pro-life, it does not really matter,” Katter continued.

“We cannot ignore that it is there and it is happening right now.

“It should be addressed, whether it is agreed with or not. The debate cannot be truncated.

“We can end up on the wrong or the right side of it, but the ability to debate it cannot be removed.”

Katter’s final plea before Speaker Pat Weir (himself known to chase pro-life votes in the Toowoomba region) called for a division went like this:

“…certainly those babies need representation.”

This again fell on deaf ears.

The bells were rung, the Parliament divided.

The LNP government members voted like lemmings for the gag.

All the Christians, including many who had spoken at pro-life rallies and fundraisers, voted for the abortion gag.

Many are people I consider friends, allies.

I’ve even heard some speak of the need for courage in politics.

I’m gutted.

Apart from Crisafulli, the only two LNP speakers to the motion were Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie and long-time Christian MP Fiona Simpson.

Bleijie has always been a pragmatist.

Simpson was a shock.

Speaking in favour of the gag, she talked about the “choice” of abortion.

It was hard to read the Hansard.

Crisafulli was railing against what he called “US style politics”. So Queensland style is to crush debate about children gasping for breath?

I was driven to minor party politics after watching Christian and conservative Liberals such as Scott Morrison squib the marriage fight.

“We’re working behind the scenes”, they would say.

The trouble is the enemies of marriage, family and freedom work in front of the scenes – in public where hearts and minds are won.

I’ve long been worried about the lack of courage amongst those in the LNP who spruik for the votes of Christians and conservatives.

Worry has turned to despair.

Christians and conservatives need to be far more discerning before allowing LNP politicians to speak at their churches and events.

Yesterday’s gag motion on human rights for unborn babies and those born alive after abortion was a betrayal of babies and their mothers.

It was also a betrayal of well-meaning earnest people in the pews who believed the LNP when they turned up at their churches, conferences and pro-life rallies.

Apart from trampling human rights, the motion was also a shocking trampling of democracy.

The LNP trampled Louise Adsett’s courage and her tears.

All this could have been avoided if someone spoke up in October last year and made Crisafulli walk back his reprehensible captain’s call. Family First spoke, but no one listened.

It’s not just the LNP in Queensland. Peter Dutton also recently gagged his party room in Canberra from talking about abortion as did the new South Australian Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia.

The left have always pushed abortion and cancel culture.

But it’s the Liberals and Nationals who have now become an anti-democratic death cult.

How they voted:

AYES, 50: LNP, 50—Baillie, Barounis, Bates, Bennett, Bleijie, Boothman, Camm, Crandon, Crisafulli, Dalton, Dillon, Doolan, Dooley, Field, Frecklington, Gerber, Head, Hutton, Hunt, B. James, T. James, Janetzki, G. Kelly, Kempton, Kirkland, Krause, Langbroek, Last, Leahy, Lee, Lister, Mander, Marr, McDonald, Mickelberg, Minnikin, Molhoek, Morton, Nicholls, O’Connor, Perrett, Poole, Purdie, Rowan, Simpson, Stevens, Stoker, Watts, Vorster, Young.

NOES, 38: ALP, 35—Asif, Bailey, Bourne, Boyd, Bush, Butcher, de Brenni, Dick, Enoch, Farmer, Fentiman, Furner, Grace, Healy, Howard, J. Kelly, King, Linard, Martin, McCallum, McMahon, McMillan, Mellish, Miles, Mullen, Nightingale, O’Shea, Pease, Power, Pugh, Russo, Ryan, Scanlon, Smith, Whiting.
KAP, 3—Dametto, Katter, Knuth.

Note: Labor's "No" vote was not because they are pro-life (they are not), it was because Labor opposed the gagging of discussion.