Ley condemns Coalition colleagues’ abortion comments as ‘insensitive’

3 hours ago 3

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has criticised the Coalition MPs who intervened in a debate about employer-paid parental leave for mothers of stillborn babies, saying it was insensitive to raise concerns that the entitlements could be claimed by mothers who have late-term abortions.

But Barnaby Joyce – who, along with Andrew Hastie, Tony Pasin and Henry Pike, aired the issue during debate about Priya’s Bill last week – accused Ley of being disingenuous and misrepresenting their requests for clarity on the bill’s scope.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley told ABC radio that the Coalition had decided to support Priya’s Bill.

It is the latest issue to expose divisions in the opposition, with former frontbencher Jane Hume also condemning the MPs’ decision to question eligibility in parliament last Wednesday after the Coalition had announced it was supporting the new law.

On Monday, Coalition senators Alex Antic, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson added to debate, voting for a One Nation amendment that would explicitly exclude mothers whose child was stillborn after an “intentional termination”. When Antic moved his own amendment, which carried the same effect, he gained extra support from Liberal senators Jessica Collins and Leah Blyth.

But neither amendment was successful, and the bill passed in its original form, guaranteeing that employers cannot cancel paid parental leave if a baby is stillborn or dies during that time away from work.

The bill’s namesake, Priya, died six weeks after being born prematurely in June 2024. When her mother notified her employer, she was told via text message that her parental leave had been cancelled and she would get just one month of personal leave.

Priya’s father, Chris, this week said the debate had upset his family. “It was hurtful to my wife. It’s disrespectful to our daughter,” he said. “Baby Priya’s Bill, I think, is about the politics of hope and human decency, and I think we need more of that in the Australian parliament.”

Ley told ABC radio on Wednesday morning that the Coalition had decided to support Priya’s Bill because it supported women through tragic events.

“Losing a baby is one of the most difficult things that can ever happen to a mother and to a family, and as a mother and a grandmother, this is very personal,” she said.

“Any commentary about this bill applying in other contexts is insensitive.”

The bill uses existing definitions of stillbirth in the Fair Work Act and the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 – this includes situations where there has been a medical abortion, so long as a qualified practitioner confirmed the definition of a stillborn child was met.

Abortions late in pregnancy are rare – doctors say fewer than 1 per cent of terminations happen after 20 weeks – and they typically happen for serious medical reasons. These include genetic syndromes, late-diagnosed major fetal abnormalities, severe growth restrictions or situations where continuing the pregnancy would severely harm the mother’s mental or physical health.

Hastie said parliament was a place to express views of conscience after he raised his reservations with the bill’s “unintended consequences”.

“I note the sensitivity around this, but I do call upon the government to clarify that [Baby Priya’s Bill] does not apply to late-term abortions,” he said.

Some Liberal MPs have privately questioned Hastie’s judgment in raising the issue, given his leadership aspirations, but Ley did not comment specifically on that when asked.

“I’m making a point about the importance of this bill and the real struggle that mothers face in the circumstances where they do lose a baby,” Ley said.

“It’s a very difficult thing for a lot of women to talk about. And the last thing I’m going to do is issue judgments on mothers. Certainly I am very supportive of the bill, as is my team.”

Hastie declined to comment on Wednesday, while Joyce, speaking in response to Ley’s criticism, said everyone was entitled to their opinion.

“People have inferred that we’re against the bill in its totality, and that is mischievous… In the whole, the bill is, of course, virtuous. There’s no problems with it,” he told this masthead.

“It’s in the particular of one section of it that I asked for clarity... Are there certain bills that you should never ask for clarity on?”

Hume said there had been “a bit of horror from many women in our party” about the direction the debate took, and said the suggestion that women would have late abortions to gain the entitlement was “offensive”.

“This is a very serious and deeply personal issue. I don’t think we needed to politicise this whatever,” she said.

“I have always supported a woman’s right to choose, as I know have the majority of people in my party ... We shouldn’t be using straightforward legislation as some sort of Trojan horse for personal opinions on this stuff. ”

Hume, a moderate who has fallen out with Ley since the election, also refused to comment on the implications for Hastie’s leadership goals.

“Sussan Ley is our leader, and I know that this is not something that she would have supported, and I’m very pleased to see that that legislation has gone through unamended,” she said.

Coalition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston also disagreed with the MPs’ objections when the bill came up in the Senate on Monday. “I understand they spoke from conscience, and I respect that. However, I want to put on the record that I disagree with any suggestion that some women might somehow exploit their grief to access an entitlement that they don’t deserve,” she said.

“Late-term pregnancy losses, whatever their circumstances, are rare and occur in the most tragic and extreme circumstances. They involve decisions made by women, their partners and their doctors in situations of profound difficulty.

“This bill is about recognising that any woman who endures the physical and psychological ordeal of losing a child late in pregnancy, at birth or soon after deserves the time to heal.”

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