Latest news with #JoannaHowe
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
State and federal MPs describe death threats and vile abuse in wake of Joanna Howe's anti-abortion campaign
State and federal MPs around the country say they and their staff have received death threats from third parties amid controversy generated by the self-described 'assertiveness' of the anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe. Howe, an expert in migration law at the University of Adelaide, has campaigned for anti-abortion laws in various state parliaments, and this month organised a rally – attended by the former prime minister Tony Abbott – against NSW reforms to improve access to services. She said on social media people 'need to be hysterical' about the bill, which represented what she called 'an extreme, radical takeover of our country'. In NSW parliament this week, the state Liberal leader, Mark Speakman, accused Howe of 'brazen bullying'. The NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn, who introduced the bill, told Guardian Australia she had received 'threats to my personal safety' from third parties and felt her workplace had become 'unsafe' for her staff. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Labor's Julia Finn accused Howe in NSW parliament last week of using 'bizarre and nasty' tactics and 'obnoxious, attention-seeking behaviour'. She told parliament Howe had gone into her office and spoken to a heavily pregnant and 'vulnerable' electorate officer, and 'while she did not say anything unkind', the interaction was filmed and posted without the staff member's knowledge or consent. 'That is not OK,' Finn said. Howe did not take the post down when asked, Finn said. Howe said in a social media post it was possible the staff member did not know she was being filmed but didn't know if she (Howe) could be held responsible for that. A federal MP who asked not to be named told Guardian Australia they were targeted online by Howe after expressing their views on abortion. They said they then received abusive messages from anonymous people, including one who said they hoped the MP would suffer and die, and another who said their mother should have 'swallowed' so that they were never born. The MP said they were concerned enough about those messages to contact the police. The independent South Australian MLC Tammy Franks, formerly of the Greens, told Guardian Australia her office received threats from third parties after Howe named her as part of the 'Baby-Killers Club' for being opposed to what the Greens described as a 'forced birth' bill last year. Howe was banned from SA parliament for her behaviour during the vote for that bill. 'We got lots of death threats, we got rape threats to the office … that was to the person who answered the phone,' Franks said. Howe has posted multiple videos of herself following MPs and asking them questions about abortion. In one, she follows the South Australian child protection minister, Katrine Hildyard, as she leaves Easter mass and, as Hildyard helps a parishioner into a car, asks her why she wants 'babies born dead'. Hildyard was also one of the women Howe branded as part of the 'Baby-Killers Club'. Staff in the office of the Queensland Labor leader, Steven Miles, called the police after Howe entered their office last year and the person with her began filming without consent, while she asked a staff member about abortion and refused to leave when asked. Howe posted a video of the police talking to her after the incident. The police said their concern was that she had not left when asked. Howe said she thought it was 'problematic in a democracy' that she couldn't speak to Miles, who was premier at the time, to 'hold him to account', and 'insane' that the staff member called the police. No charges were laid. One social media post from Howe about Miles attracted multiple comments from other internet users wishing death on Miles, including saying someone should 'terminate his life', that he should 'have a date with a NOOSE' and that he should swing 'from the gallows'. The comments remain online. In 2023, the Labor MLC Lorna Harper told the Western Australian parliament Howe had attacked her and her beliefs online and encouraged her followers to 'leave offensive messages' on her social media for supporting abortion legislation. Harper said 'according to [Howe's] followers' she was 'a baby killer, a murderer, not fit to be in parliament, a radical, highly offensive, gutless, coldblooded and a feminist extremist'. Howe has been praised by the Coalition senators Alex Antic and Matt Canavan, the United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet and some state parliament representatives for her advocacy for anti-abortion laws, none of which have passed. Speakman told parliament this week Howe had 'threatened to lead a public campaign aimed at encouraging a grassroots opposition to you as Liberal leader' if he supported the NSW bill. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'I will not cave to brazen bullying like this nor to the Americanisation of NSW politics,' Speakman said. Howe said in response on social media that politicians used parliamentary privilege to tell 'the most brazen lies' while they 'work with their comrades in the media in advance' to get coverage. She said MPs weaponised accusations of misinformation and disinformation and likened it to 'some kind of Tourette's' or 'verbal diarrhoea'. She said of being called a bully that it was 'democracy' and she was just asking questions. 'It's not like I'm going around threatening to beat up their family or I'm finding them in a dark alleyway and I'm … harassing them,' she said. She said pro-life women and church leaders had always sat down with politicians for meetings and 'just lost dismally', playing 'Christian voters for fools'. 'I'm not your nice pro-life Christian girl,' she said. 'I bring a level of activism and assertiveness and it's clearly effective because it's rattled you [NSW politicians],' she said. 'You're just going to have to get with the program, because the old sitting down for a meeting and listening to your BS … those days are over. We're not doing that any more.' Howe also published video of the NSW premier, Chris Minns, criticising her. 'He's just called me a liar and a bully,' she said. 'It really just shows how fragile these snowflake politicians are.' Other comments he made were 'good' for a potential defamation action, she said. 'For Minns to say that, you know, I'm responsible for all this misinformation, whipping up this hysteria – people need to be hysterical about this bill,' she said. 'This was an extreme, radical takeover of our country.' Howe targeted the federal Liberal senator Maria Kovacic with a petition for her to be 'dumped', describing her as having an 'anti-child, anti-family ideology'. Kovacic told Guardian Australia MPs had a duty to resist attempts to coerce them into silence or submission. Franks said she 'can't believe' the University of Adelaide lets Howe 'trade on her association with that institution as a law professor when her lack of respect for … what is reasonable behaviour in the democratic process continues to be flouted'. The university said academics were free to 'make lawful public comment on any issue in their personal capacities', but were expected to comply with the university's code of conduct. It did not say whether it considered Howe's actions to be in accordance with the code. Howe did not respond to a request for comment, but posted on X saying she did not need to answer questions and was 'busy being a real person with a life'.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Mum-of-five finds herself at the centre of a furious political storm - as two of the most powerful men in Australia condemn her
A high profile activist has come under fire from both sides of politics over her stance on abortion. The NSW parliament is examining an amended bill put up by Greens MP Amanda Cohn to address 'abortion deserts' in the state and remove barriers to women terminating pregnancies in regional areas. During a prolonged debate on Tuesday night, Opposition Leader Mark Speakman alleged in parliament that a prominent anti-abortion campaigner threatened to derail his leadership of the Liberal Party if he didn't oppose the bill. Activist Joanna Howe told him she would have 'no other choice but to suspend my planned campaign against Labor in order to lead a public campaign aimed at encouraging a grassroots opposition to you as Liberal leader', Mr Speakman told MPs in parliament under privilege. 'I will not cave to brazen bullying like this nor to the Americanisation of NSW politics,' he said. 'I will vote according to my conscience and balance difficult and sensitive ethical, social, moral and medical concerns.' Premier Chris Minns has weighed in to back his political rival, suggesting Dr Howe had spread 'enormous amount of misinformation and lies' on her social media channels. That includes a claim the bill would 'force the closure of all Christian and Catholic hospitals unless they perform abortions' - a claim debunked by AAP FactCheck in March. 'It's whipped up a lot of good people in the community believing that the legislative changes are far more extensive than they in fact were,' Mr Minns said. A law professor at the University of Adelaide and mother-of-five, Dr Howe is among the nation's leading critics of abortion. Last week, she appeared alongside former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher at an anti-abortion rally outside NSW Parliament. She was banned from the upper house of the South Australian parliament last October after Liberal politician Jing Lee said she felt unsafe in the presence of an 'external visitor' who upper house president Terry Stephens later identified as Dr Howe. In a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Dr Howe challenged Premier Minns' claims head on, threatening to sue him for defamation. 'He gives an example of emails he's received about nurses and midwives being concerned they're going to lose their licence if they don't perform abortions. I never said anything to that effect,' she said. 'He says that I lied about voting records which I never did. 'My message to Chris Minns is quite simple: either come out and correct the record and admit that you got it wrong and apologise or you'll be hearing from my lawyers because I'll be suing you for defamation.' So this is getting pretty wild 😜 I really must have rattled some cages for both the NSW Premier and the Opposition Leader to be united on something! — Dr Joanna Howe (@ProfJoannaHowe) May 14, 2025 Earlier on Wednesday, she promised to publish the email she sent to Mr Speakman, asking her followers to decide in a separate Instagram video: 'am I a bully or is Mark Speakman just a precious snowflake who can't handle the democratic process?' Health Minister Ryan Park said misinformation and 'bad faith characters' were both features of the debate. 'It's just classic misinformation, that people and nurses are going to be all of a sudden deregistered, and all of a sudden people will be made to go and do certain things,' he told ABC Radio. 'Overly emotive (language) and misinformation can intimidate and scare people, particularly people who may have had a very personal experience (with abortion).' The pared-back bill, expected to be passed on Wednesday, would allow nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives with appropriate training to prescribe medical abortion medicine, known as MS-2 Step, up to nine weeks of gestation. Current laws in NSW only permit doctors to prescribe medications for abortions. The proposed reforms would also require annual public reporting on service availability by region, wait times and any adverse events. Both Labor and Liberal MPs have been granted a conscience vote on the legislation, which passed the NSW upper house in a reduced form. The push for law change came after revelations a woman was turned away from having an abortion on the day of her planned procedure at Queanbeyan Hospital in August 2024. Another public hospital in Orange restricted terminations for non-medical reasons, triggering the intervention of Mr Park to reinstate abortions without restrictions in October 2024. Abortion was permitted by the courts in NSW in 1971 and decriminalised in 2019, but is not always accessible, particularly in rural and regional areas. While the bill is likely to pass the NSW lower house, it will need to return to the upper house due to amendments. That means the laws will not take effect until May 28 at the earliest.
ABC News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman slams threats to leadership over abortion bill
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has accused a prominent anti-abortion campaigner of "brazen bullying", declaring he will not "cave in" in the face of political threats. The lower house has been considering a bill brought by Greens MP Amanda Cohn, which would let nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives provide drugs to terminate early stage pregnancies. Coalition and Labor MPs have been given a conscience vote on the matter and, until Tuesday night, Mr Speakman had declined to publicly state his position. He told parliament that he would support the bill and said some arguments of anti-abortion campaigners were based on "misinformation." "I think on balance, the bill will make no material difference to the rate of abortion in New South Wales," he said. "[It] will not interfere with freedom of conscience, but will probably lead to better — not worse — health outcomes for many pregnant women seeking abortions." Mr Speakman singled out high-profile anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe over an email she sent him on Monday night. In the chamber, he read out what he said was an extract. Mr Speakman said Dr Howe then "threatened" his leadership, leaving him in a state of "shock." He continued reading from the email. "If you choose to vote for the bill, I will be left with no other choice but to suspend my planned campaign against Labor, in order to lead a public campaign aimed at encouraging a grassroots opposition to you as Liberal leader." Dr Howe, a legal professor at the University of Adelaide, is one of the most vocal critics of abortion in the country. Last year, she was banned from parts of South Australia's parliament and last week, she appeared alongside former prime minister Tony Abbott at a major anti-abortion rally outside NSW parliament. She has been contacted for comment. Mr Speakman said any attempt to threaten his leadership would have no effect. "I won't cave in to brazen bullying like this, nor to the Americanisation of New South Wales politics," he told parliament. "I will vote, according to my conscience, to balance difficult and sensitive ethical, social, moral and medical concerns." Under Dr Cohn's original bill, doctors with moral objections to abortion would be legally required to refer a patient to another practitioner who would provide the service. Some mandatory reporting requirements would also be abolished. However, these proposals were among those stripped from the bill in the upper house last week, due to lack of support. "There is no way I could have voted for the current bill in its original form," Mr Speakman said. "Successful amendments have now thankfully stripped the bill of its attacks on freedom of conscience and freedom of religion." The premier, Chris Minns, will also support the pared-back bill so that experienced nurses and midwives can prescribe abortion medication to terminate pregnancies of up to nine weeks. It is expected to pass the lower house this week.
Sky News AU
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Massive breach of trust': Labor allegedly ‘fooled' religious communities over abortion bill
University of Adelaide Professor Dr Joanna Howe claims Labor performed a 'massive breach of trust' with religious communities during the election campaign. 'In the election campaign, we saw Albanese talking about he'd come back to the faith, crying over the death of Pope Francis, going to Saint Mary's on Easter Sunday,' Dr Howe told Sky News host Peta Credlin. 'They were caught in the religious vote in Western Sydney, where they knew those electorates voted against same sex marriage, they're deeply conservative electorates. 'Labor fooled religious voters into thinking that they would be on their side. 'Chris Minns did a grubby deal with the Greens to ram this bill through the parliament to spite all the assurances that they were going to block this bill.'
