Barnaby Joyce joined anti-abortion campaigners outside NSW parliament as a tight upper house vote looms on a bill to ban sex-selective abortions.
Barnaby Joyce has urged anti-abortion campaigners in Sydney to put political pressure on NSW Nationals MPs before a closely watched upper house vote on a bill that would ban sex-selective abortions.
Joyce, identified in the source report as One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce, addressed a rally outside NSW parliament on Tuesday night as supporters chanted “Nats must act.” The bill, introduced by Libertarian upper house member John Ruddick, would still need lower house approval if it passes the upper house.
The vote is being watched closely because no party controls either chamber, and Labor, Liberal and National MPs have been granted conscience votes. Independent lower house MP Alex Greenwich said the numbers in the upper house were tight, particularly after the suspension of Labor minister Penny Sharpe.
“The one thing politicians fear is losing their job,” Joyce told the crowd, urging activists to campaign against sitting politicians over abortion. “What I see before me here is about 1,500 people who can hand out how to vote cards.”
Dr Joanna Howe, who organised the rally and invited Joyce, told supporters the four Nationals members of the NSW upper house were the key obstacle to the bill passing. She framed the measure as only the first step in a broader campaign, saying she planned to keep pressing for further restrictions and next intended to lobby for a ban on late-term abortions.
Howe also said she planned grassroots campaigns in Nationals-held seats before the March 2027 NSW election, arguing that One Nation candidates could threaten major-party MPs who opposed abortion restrictions.
A counter-protest of about 150 people gathered nearby in Martin Place. One speaker, identified as Lucy, a University of Sydney student originally from the United States, warned that sex-selective abortion bans in parts of the US preceded broader rollbacks of abortion rights after Roe v Wade was overturned.
The NSW proposal is the latest attempt to limit abortion access after abortion was decriminalised across Australian states and territories. Debate in the upper house is expected on Wednesday, with a vote due in coming days. If the bill clears that chamber, the fight will move to the lower house, where its prospects remain uncertain.
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