Former Liberal MP Trish Worth says MP Ben Hood should resign or be sacked over abortion bill

Published Sep 23, 2024, 5:00 AM
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And it's the political ramifications of this bill that I'd like to talk about now. Trishworth is a former Federal Liberal MP. She's a woman on the more moderate side of the Liberal Party and she joins you now, good morning, Trishworth.

And congratulations on you doing all the research and getting your facts right. And I have listened with great interest to your listeners texting and ringing in and I have to say it reminded me of what a privileges was when I was in Parliament to be able to go out in the electric and hear what people were saying. And I think the messages are pretty loud and clear, and.

Look, everyone's got their opinion, and as I've said, everyone's entitled to their opinion. There are people out there who completely disagree with my perspective and that's the beauty of Australia. We live in a society where we can disagree with each other. What do you make of the political ramifications for the Liberal Party of this bill. I was hearing from Matt Pantellus earlier today, David Pemberthy as well, and I just cannot see how this is going to be a good call electorally for the Liberal Party.

Well, it certainly isn't. In the research of course backs that up. You know, we're not Trump's America. And in South Australia and well all over Australia for instance, there there's research that's been done that points out that just as you've been saying today that most people are concerned that it's actually the Pew Research Trust survey found that eighty two percent of Australians support being support it being legal in almost all cases, including seventy four percent of right when Australians and seventy percent amongst religious Australia Australians. The stats are roughly the same for Canada in the UK. So this is this is the people of our country and others that we're dealing with. I listened with interest to a lot that was what beings was being said. You were right about not everybody knows about twenty two weeks.

I actually got in text from my mum when I said that she didn't know that she was pregnant until she was twenty three weeks with all three of her children.

Well, there you go. You've lived the experience for your mum, rather has lived the experience. But just imagine the fifteen year old girl who gets raped is hoping, like madd she's not pregnant, doesn't know, she is puts off telling her parents. I mean, that may sound like an extreme example, but I'm sure it happens. But of interest is that in another state of Australia, there was one single case in two thousand and nine of an abortion occurring at twenty seven weeks, and there has not been one at all in South Australia. So you know, I'll leave it up to the medical experts and those that collect the data and do all the right things to be talking about that. But the politics of it is just appalling, and I do feel for mister Tazia. He's been there for four weeks. He promoted Ben Hood to the front bench. Ben wasn't there beforehand, and now Ben wants to be moving private members. Now. The norms in the Liberal Party that I experienced is that Ben should be if he wants to do this, he should be resigning from the front bench, and if he doesn't, mister Tavia should sack him because there are plenty of other good people, particularly in the Assembly House of Assembly, who could easily do this sort of work. If he wants to be determined to do this, then he should be resigning or getting marching orders.

Is it not a right if you're in the Liberal Party. You know the old broad Church angle that you can introduce your own laws. That's why we have private members' bills. And I think originally the decriminalization of abortion was introduced as a private member's bill.

Originally it was from an independent originally, and then it was taken up by the then Liberal Attorney General. But that would have then gone through the party room and all the proper processes. But in the norms that I understand and the way I lived it in the Federal Parliament for poor terms and we were pretty stable mob, then I have to say, if you wanted to do something like this, you had to resign. So I just think that my advice to Ben Hood if he ever thought it would be put your head in put it out of your mind. There are other big issues to be worried about and things you can do. Let's get on with providing, you know, showing the people of South Australia we want to be a good alternative government. Yeah.

I just worry for the Liberal Party. This shows that all the Liberal Party wants to do is talk about these types of issues. We've got a cost of living crisis. We've got people waiting on the ramp, can't get a hospital bed, and all your party's doing is talking about abortion.

I couldn't agree more. I mean, there are people dying waiting for ambulances if we're concerned about things like this, I mean, there was so many health issues and other issues that should be being pursued. I mean, if we think about the ramping, for instance, I always say, well, labor caused it in the first place. They were in government all those years, they closed the hospital, they downgraded others, and they built a new or all I had laid hospital without enough beds. Are the things we should be talking about and how we really are seriously trying to fix it was it was a Marshall government that reopened, for instance, the Repaut hospital. I'd like people to be really concentrating on the important issues, and there was nothing bizarre in that legislation that was passed in the Marshall government. It's things are being made up along the way, stories being told, exaggerated, etc. And even even Dom who rang in I did prick up my ears. He seemed to know a little bit about me, which I don't expect everybody to do. But you know, I said I wasn't elected to any position at state Council. All I did actually didn't stand for any position at state Council. I've spent my time these days putting the proverbial arm around traditional conservatives and moderates who have just been booted from the positions they've held in all the campaignings they've done because of the branch stacking that's been going on.

Okay, well, Trishworth, thank you for your time this afternoon. I appreciate your thoughts.

Five double a afternoon, Swiss. Stacey Lean

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