At this weekend’s state conference, Queensland Liberal National party members will debate banning gender-affirming care for children, repealing a ban on conversion practices and adopting a policy “whereby batteries, solar panels and wind turbines should no longer be deemed as renewables”.
Seven separate motions reference “gender ideology”, gender-affirming care or transgender people, but the word “abortion” does not appear on the agenda for the LNP’s first convention since winning last year’s state election.
Last October, party leader David Crisafulli became just the second modern Liberal elected as premier of Queensland to last longer than a week.
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He used last year’s convention to announce his election-winning “adult crime, adult time” slogan. It became the centrepiece of the party’s small-target law and order strategy; the party has since legislated to sentence children as adults for 33 offences, in violation of the state’s Human Rights Act.
Since winning he has urged the party to maintain a moderate face, and to steer clear of controversial social issues such as abortion, which was perceived to have hurt the party during the campaign.
Last December, Crisafulli’s government passed a motion banning debate about abortion in parliament for four years.
“We don’t exist for culture wars,” Crisafulli told the LNP state council last year.
But many of the issues for debate brought to the convention by party units – effectively, ordinary members – reflect current battles within the culture wars.
The party branch in Lytton has proposed that the convention call on the state government to “ban all gender surgeries and chemical drug treatments for persons under 18 years of age across all private and public hospitals”.
The LNP’s women’s branch will also sponsor a motion along similar lines, calling on the state government to ban transgender people from using bathrooms corresponding to the gender they identify with, with an exception for children.
The LNP health minister and former leader, Tim Nicholls, announced a ban on transgender children receiving gender-affirming care in public hospitals in January.
The party’s Metro South region, representing southern Brisbane, will propose that the party ought to repeal elements of the Health Legislation Amendment Act 2020, a law which bans conversion practices. The branch claims it criminalises a medical practitioner “if they seek to identify or treat the underlying reasons for a child presenting with gender confusion”.
The same branch will also propose that the party adopt a policy to “retire” anti-discrimination laws passed last year under Labor. Labor had been considering banning religious schools from homophobic or other forms of discrimination at the time. Implementation of the laws was indefinitely paused by the attorney general, Deb Frecklington, in March.
It says that retiring the bill would “provide clarity for faith-based institutions to operate and recruit staff according to their values”.
Metro South will also propose calling on the state government to welcome back health workers sacked for refusing to get a Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
It will also argue for a motion calling on the state and federal party “to adopt a policy whereby batteries, solar panels and wind turbines should no longer be deemed as renewables”.
The party passed legislation this year which green groups say restricts approvals of wind projects such that some coalmines have an easier approvals pathway. The bill also exempts Olympics venues from planning rules.
LNP Women also proposed a policy of introducing a 50% target of male primary school teachers by 2035.
The party has repeatedly refused to adopt a gender target akin to Labor’s for its elected ranks on the basis that it opposes quotas on principle.
The convention is made up of ordinary members of the party, organised within party units such as the Young LNP, state electorate councils and federal divisional councils. It will be held from Friday to Sunday in south Brisbane.
Motions passed are not binding on MPs or the government but determine general policy and indicate the feeling of the party’s base.
The federal opposition leader, Sussan Ley, will make a speech on Friday. Crisafulli and the Brisbane lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, will both make reports, as will the federal Nationals leader, David Littleproud.
The party president, Lawrence Springborg – himself a former state MP and opposition leader – will step down at the conference.
