Barnaby Joyce rallies anti-abortion activists ahead of tight NSW vote

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce addresses anti-abortion protesters ioutside NSW state parliament in Sydney. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP View image in fullscreen One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce addresses anti-abortion protesters ioutside NSW state parliament in Sydney. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP Barnaby Joyce rallies anti-abortion activists ahead of tight NSW vote Sydney crowd told to target National MPs as upper house prepares to vote on a bill outlawing sex-selective terminations Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce has joined pro-life campaigners to pile pressure on Nationals MPs to vote to criminalise some abortions ahead of a tight vote in New South Wales . Anti-abortion activists have threatened to campaign for One Nation against major parties to force new limits on terminating pregnancies on the back of its polling surge. One Nation wants to roll back abortion rights in Australia – and is emboldening activists seeking US-style laws Read more Introduced to chants of “Nats must act,” Joyce addressed a rally against “sex-selective” abortions outside NSW parliament on Tuesday night. “You must keep that fire burning for those people who can’t stand up for themselves, and I call them people, they’re not foetuses,” Joyce said. “They are people.” “Politically, does this make you popular? Nup, nup. Probably lose half the votes every time you do it. But you know why you do it? Because it’s the right thing to do.” He encouraged the crowd to campaign against sitting politiciansn on abortion. ‘The one thing politicians fear is losing their job,” Joyce said. “They’re very mindful of that. 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 the crowd the four Nationals members of the NSW upper house were the only people standing in the way of the bill passingalthough it would still need lower house approval to become law. “We are so close to passing the first-ever pro-life bill through a house of parliament this country has ever seen,” Howe said. “The message to the Nats is: if the Nats don’t pass this bill, then One Nation is going to take your seats … If you don’t vote for this bill, Barnaby’s coming for you.” The bill, moved by the Libertarian upper house member, John Ruddick, is a ban only on sex-selective abortion. Howe told the crowd that bill would be just the start of the legislative campaign. “Business has changed,” she said. “Every year in this state, we will introduce a bill until we protect all the babies.” She told Guardian Australia she next planned to lobby for a ban on late-term abortions. Howe said Tuesday’s Sydney rally was her biggest pro-life rally yet and she planned to organise grassroots campaigns in every Nationals-held seat ahead of NSW’s state election in March 2027. “Because there will now be One Nation candidates in those seats, we know that we can unseat pro-abortion Labor people, pro-abo