Queensland Law Reform Commission to examine termination of pregnancy laws

Published Tuesday, 28 February, 2017 at 09:09 AM

JOINT STATEMENT

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Training and Skills
The Honourable Yvette D'Ath

Deputy Premier, Minister for Transport and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning
The Honourable Jackie Trad

The Palaszczuk Government will refer the current laws in relation to the termination of pregnancy to the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) for its advice.

Independent Member for Cairns Rob Pyne has advised the Government he will withdraw two pieces of legislation - Abortion Law Reform (Woman’s Right to Choose) Amendment Bill and Health (Abortion Law Reform) Amendment Bill – that he had introduced to State Parliament. The legislation was due to be debated this week.

The QLRC recommendations will be the basis for legislation the Government will introduce to Parliament for debate.

The QLRC is an independent statutory body that makes recommendations on areas of law in need of reform, and submits reports to the Attorney-General which are required to be tabled in Parliament.

In the next term of Government, Labor will bring forward a Bill to Parliament to modernise Queensland’s abortion laws.