Barnaby Joyce admits majority of Australians not ‘pro-life’ after attending Sydney anti-abortion rally

Renegade One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has admitted opposition to abortion is not the “majority view” in Australia after he was spotted at an anti-abortion rally in Sydney.

The New England MP attended the Sydney Life Rally in support of a private member’s bill set to be debated in state parliament on Wednesday, which seeks to ban abortions for the purposes of sex selection.

The practise is already banned under NSW Health policy and was formally opposed by parliament in 2019 when a bipartisan majority voted to decriminalise abortion.

In a social media post, Mr Joyce said “you can’t sex select as a reason for a termination”.

“There has to be a line in this and let’s be honest with each other, we all know that,” the account stated.

“This law in NSW must be passed or otherwise we all accept that sex selection is appropriate.”

In a sometimes fiery interview with ABC on Wednesday evening, Mr Joyce said he was “pro-life”.

However, when told that was not the “majority view in the country”, Mr Joyce said “I would agree to that”.

“I don’t go out to engage in this debate to become popular. If I wanted to be, I’d stay away from it,” he said.

“I engage with it because I believe it is the correct thing to do and I feel I would be an unsubstantial person if I start stepping away from my beliefs.”

Pressed on whether people would disagree with his views, Mr Joyce said “that is not unusual”.

Mr Joyce denied he was seeking to ban abortion outright.

Pointing to a study last year from Edith Cowan University which examined birth data from 1994 to 2015, Mr Joyce claimed in 15,000 abortions, there were “about 13 or 14” which were self-reported.

“I think if there is one, that is wrong,” he said.

Mr Joyce said his post, which appeared to be a mistaken comment that “girls are not as good as boys”, as having been “rhetorical”.

“It was posted as a rhetorical form and people how plain don’t like me, (and) don’t have compelity to understand its rhetorical, put it there as factual,” he said.

Tuesday’s rally was attended by prominent anti-abortion activist and University of Adelaide academic, Dr Joanna Howe.

Dr Howe last year threatened to run a grassroots campaign against then-NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman over his support for a bill to expand abortion access.

At the time, Premier Chris Minns condemned Dr Howe for “American-style misinformation”.

The current bill is being put forward by Libertarian MLC John Ruddick.

If passed, it would see fines of up to $22,000 or up to five years in prison.

While it will be debated in parliament, the bill will not be voted on for sometime – when it is, it is likely to find support among Labor or the Greens, and will likely fail.

Mr Minns, who addressed the media over an expansion of the Labor government’s program to enable pharmacists to prescribe and dispense the contraceptive pill, said it was already illegal to seek an abortion on the basis of gender.

“I’ve looked at the data. The demographic data does not indicate that there is sex selection terminations taking place in NSW and we know that because we see in minute detail the number of people and pregnancies that are born each and every year,” he said.

“People have got a right to protest ... but I wouldn’t support the legislation if it did make the lower house.”