A little-known part of the Christmas story is the Judean King Herod’s grisly slaughter of Bethlehem’s babies in the hope he might kill the Christ child.

Informed by star-gazing Wise Men from the far east that a new king had been born, Herod moved quickly to protect his career by seeking to snuff out the life of a perceived challenger.

His material comfort and position were under threat, babies must be killed.

The Bible, which records the joy and tragedy of the first Christmas, also tells us in its wisdom books that there is nothing new under the sun.

Fast forward two thousand years to two weeks before Christmas 2024 and the newly crowned king Crisafulli of Queensland was considering how he could shore up his power.

Perceiving his biggest threat to be his majority pro-life party room, he felt compelled to prioritise the uninterrupted killing of babies to birth (and even after) for the next four years of his rule.

The Katter’s Australia Party Leader Robbie Katter had promised to introduce a bill into the Parliament to require medical assistance to be rendered to babies born alive after surviving their abortion, something that occurs at about the rate of one per week in Australia.

Because these inconvenient survivors would open a debate about the human rights of unborn babies and the laws in Queensland which allow them to be killed right up to the moment of birth, threatening our sexually “liberated” society’s love of abortion as a backup contraceptive, Crisafulli felt he needed to act.

He and his leadership team secretly cooked up a scheme to impose an unprecedented gag upon the seat of Queensland democracy by imposing a motion which prohibits discussion of abortion.

But no issue should be off limits for discussion by elected people, least of all the killing of innocent children in their mothers’ wombs - and often outside as whistle blower midwives are revealing.

A gag like this has never been attempted but if the issue was any other than abortion, there would be hell to pay from a media baying for transparency. Instead and perversely, they only bay for the blood of aborted babies.

Crisafulli’s edict, like Herod’s, contained deadly consequences for society’s most vulnerable.

The last words Crisafulli and his soldiers heard before voting for the gag were Katter’s pleas on behalf of those who could not speak for themselves.

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

“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.

“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…certainly those babies need representation.”

This fell on deaf ears as the Queensland LNP voted as one to gag debate so the killing before and after birth could continue without debate or discussion for four years.

Harder hearts at Christmas have rarely been seen in 2000 years.

In a single procedural motion of the Parliament, David Crisafulli turned the Queensland Liberal National Party into an anti-democratic death cult.

Herod would be proud that such despotism could be achieved in a modern liberal democracy.

Matthew, a tax collector on behalf of the occupying Romans who became a disciple of the child who survived the massacre, Jesus, quoted the prediction by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah some 700 years beforehand of the baby slaughter:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

    weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

In August a modern-day Rachel went before a Queensland Parliamentary committee and testified of the slaughter of babies in Queensland hospitals.

Other midwives from around the nation have also come forward to put a human face on health department statistics which for years have shown that babies are routinely born alive after abortion and left to die.

Whistle-blower midwife Louise Adsett wept as she told the politicians the following:

"A mother made a decision to abort her baby at 21 plus week's gestation. The process began in the morning with misoprostol (a poison used to kill unborn babies) given throughout the day.

“The process took all day, and the baby was only delivered during the early hours of a night shift, where skeleton staff was on duty.

“This baby moved vigorously, gasped for breath, and had a palpable heart rate.

“To make it clear, this baby was alive. It was over 400 grams, so the baby was a good weight. The parents of this baby did not desire to see or hold this baby.

“Midwives and doctors were left holding this little life while it continued to, while they continued to provide care for other women who were birthing and welcoming their babies into the world.

“This baby boy fought for his life for five hours before taking his final breath."

Crisafulli, thy name is Herod.