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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has backed a rebel LNP representative’s efforts to reignite the abortion debate in Queensland.
Mackay MP Nigel Dalton crossed the floor on Tuesday, supporting a Katter’s Australian Party push that would have reversed a gag introduced by David Crisafulli in an attempt to neutralise the issue.
“This is a personal response, this is me getting right with God, getting right with the community,” Dalton later said in an online interview explaining the decision.
The effort failed, but put the spotlight back on a fracture in the conservative side of Queensland politics that has largely been contained since the 2024 election.
Asked if she thought the move was in the interest of Queenslanders, Hanson said on Friday it was a central concern for many voters.
“The abortion issue is very important to a lot of Australians, and I’ve actually had my concerns about it greatly,” Hanson told reporters at the Commonwealth offices in the Brisbane CBD.
“What have we come to in this country? Where’s our humanity? I think it’s disgusting.”
At the 2024 election Labor tried to wedge the LNP on abortion, suggesting many members privately planned to support legislation banning the medical procedure.
Crisafulli repeatedly stated changes to the status quo were “not part of our plan,” and described the Labor narrative as a scare campaign.
This week Dalton confessed he had not believed the rhetoric of his own leader.
“I stood in press conferences in Mackay alongside other members who are now in the government and we said there would be no change – no change to the abortion laws,” he said.
“There probably won’t be any changes, but I didn’t believe that.
“I hope, in some ways, by standing up and saying this and doing this, we can actually draw attention to what the abortion act actually says in Queensland.”
One Nation has surged in polling recently, with the trend largely attributed to ongoing cost-of-living pressures and a wave of dissatisfaction with the Liberal and National parties.
Hanson did back one LNP policy, the reintroduction of optional preferential voting in Queensland, suggesting it could benefit her party at the 2028 state election.
“The public are screaming out they don’t want their vote to flow to someone they don’t want in parliament,” she said.
“Give them the option whether they want to put a mark beside one of the candidates or leave it blank, because of a lot of these people should not be on the floor of parliament.”
The populist firebrand did not give her verdict on the incumbent LNP government in Queensland, but said major party members were defecting to One Nation across the country.
“Different jockey, same dead horse,” she said of Angus Taylor five hours after he had deposed Sussan Ley as leader of the federal opposition.
“The people have had enough. They are hurting and they want strong leadership.”
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