Did Australians really vote for some of these Politicians?

We caught up with some friends, we haven’t seen for a while, this morning for coffee. On a Sunday morning, we invariably get to the topic of things that worry us about politics in the world.  We are all of an age, let’s say greater than 50, to be able to say we have not seen things going on in the world as are happening now and concerned for the next generations.

One of these friends reads this substack and said he was enjoying learning things about statistics, which was the whole reason I started writing, to make sense of the numbers. I have two articles queued up, one is an explanation of life expectancy, and another on determining trends from data.

However, it’s hard not to make some commentary about things one feels strongly about.

Parliament has been sitting in Australia over the last weeks and there has been a lot going on. We realise now we hear little about some of the important decisions in the legacy media. Because of COVID and the response of the government I have taken more interest and am aware that decisions are being made on our behalf by some people who do not represent what many Australians believe in. We’ve also learnt that there are still some good people in parliament who will fight for what they believe is right, often to their own detriment.

The news that prompts me to write this is about a vote in parliament regarding the rights of babies born alive after late term abortions. Sometimes during late term abortions, later than about half term, 20 weeks, these babies are actually born alive, breathing and with a palpable heartbeat. As it stands these babies are left to die. It seems they have no rights as human beings. Often they are put in a metal tray, covered up and left to die.

It may take up to 5 hours for the baby to pass away.

Baby is not provided any painkillers or palliative care. Often distraught midwives hold and comfort them.

We have become aware of this through a state parliamentary inquiry where midwives have testified. It is absolutely heart breaking. The issue is covered well here in this piece from Rebel News:

This has struck home with Lena and myself, as our daughter is pregnant, and she is at the stage where this week she had a high resolution 3D ultrasound and she shared the image in our family group. As a parent when you see this image for the first time you literally tear up. It is so moving seeing this little person curled up with their hands in front of their face.

Apparently, there are approximately 700 such births in a year, where the baby is inadvertently born alive after the abortion procedure (that number is for two states in Australia, Qld and Vic). It seems that the parents may not want to see the baby in this situation, so it is left to die alone. It is obviously heartbreaking for some of the midwives and if they can, they will try to stay with the baby.

Now this issue is not about whether abortion is right or wrong, or at what stage it should be allowed.

The midwife that brings to the attention of the inquiry that uncovered this gets called a “whistle-blower”. This is now what whistle-blowing is.

The Bill regarding medical care for babies that survive abortion was put forward by Senators Babet, Antic and Canavan, and first put forward in 2022. The Bill was voted down in this last week in the Australian Parliament.

We have two main parties in Australia, Labour and Liberal. Then there are Greens and various small parties and independents. Every Labour and Greens member voted against the Bill.

The image below was captured in Parliament. Senator Ralph Babet is speaking on the issue and a Greens Senator is walking behind him and makes a gesture of vomiting by sticking her finger in her mouth.

This particular Greens Senator is known to be an odious character.

And such behaviour on such an emotive issue is horrendous. Does she really represent Australians?

Most of the Liberals supported the Bill but several did not. This has incensed some of the Liberal support base.

The one circled is not actually elected. She replaced a Senator who passed away.

This is such an important issue that several reporters in the legacy media have actually covered it. I saw it in my phone news feed on the Australian (behind paywall).

Also the Daily Telegraph covers it which is not behind a paywall.

In the Rebel News piece, it notes that another Greens Senator said we have to realise that these inadvertent live births are rare (12 min 10 mark in the Rebel News youtube). Rare, where have we heard that before?

You can see exactly what they said in the Hansard here. The Senator said:

“Late-term abortions resulting in a live foetus are extremely rare, and they only occur in situations of lethal foetal abnormalities or where there are serious risks to the pregnant person.”

From what I understand this is not correct. At the Inquiry, where midwives testified, the births referred to, were cases where there was no risk to the pregnant woman.

You can see who voted which way by clicking on the Division link right hand side in the Hansard link above.

My interpretation of this issue is that those against it are worried that if there is an inference that these babies born from 20 weeks are alive human beings that it could cause some problems for their belief that abortion should be allowed at any stage of pregnancy. How they could not distinguish the difference of this issue, for care of babies born alive, is unfathomable.

A COVID Commission of Inquiry

Senator Babet also in the last week tried to get a COVID Commission of Inquiry approved. My understanding is that, while not termed a Royal Commission, it is effectively the same thing we have been trying to achieve. The story has been written about here with the machinations going on with some parties agreeing in principal but then not turning up to vote.

Senator Babet’s speech and then responses and the vote are seen here:

Again other odious Senators make their statements. This smug moron makes the statement (at 11:30) “We know that Senator Babet comes from the outer reaches of some of the kooky conspiracy theorist views”.

It is offensive especially when we know many people have been harmed by the COVID response. But given what I have just written about the live births after abortion nothing should surprise us. Fortunately, there are sensible words from Senators Rennick, Roberts and Canavan. Senator Matt O'Sullivan from West Australia, who I not heard speak before, makes very reasonable comments in the parliament.

This is the way the vote went and interesting to see who voted which way.

Labour voted against. Greens we understand are, in principle, in favour of a Commission but were not present for the vote. The Liberals were split. I can see Birmingham, one of the Liberals that voted against the care for live births after abortion Bill, is also against a COVID Commission.

I have heard that while this is not the hoped for result, we know where certain Senators stand on these issues.

An interesting one is that Senator David Pocock, who is a well-known former Australian Rugby player, voted for the COVID commission. He voted against the live birth Bill (he is pictured in the Daily Telegraph screenshot above). The Telegraph news piece sarcastically points out that he has fought harder for rights of Koalas than human babies.

It doesn’t make much sense, but it is important to understand who these people are. We spend time trying to make sense of numbers and present it to the decision makers and expect them to understand. We should not be surprised. Some make their own definitions of “rare”.  Some of these people do not know what it means to be human.

But we remain in Hope as there are some good people in the Parliament.