Thank you for being part of making history!

View the results of our national Put Labor Last campaign here

Cherish Life Queensland is overjoyed with the life-valuing outcome of the federal election.

“Labor boasted about its extreme late-term abortion policy platform at its national conference late last year. What Labor promised meant that if Bill Shorten won government, through the threat of withholding federal health funding, all legal protection from the unborn would have been removed right across Australia and taxpayer-funded public hospitals would have been forced to perform abortions on request - even late-term abortions of healthy babies of healthy mothers.

“This policy was absolutely disgraceful and abhorrent, and as advocates for the right to life and protectors of unborn human life we simply had to act, and act big,” Ms Teeshan Johnson, executive director of Cherish Life Queensland said.

“We designed a national ‘Put Labor Last’ campaign to educate Australians on Labor’s disturbing open-slather abortion mission. (Campaign details including the 25 target seats are below.)

“Our multi-faceted pro-life campaign was run in 25 marginal seats across Australia. Of those seats 17 were Liberal/LNP/Independent and 8 Labor. Of the Coalition seats, we were successful in helping to retain all but 2, and helped oust pro-abortion Labor in 5 seats plus help transfer the seat of Chisholm back to the Liberals.

"Queensland had particularly good results. Our investment per seat was biggest in Queensland, so too our network being a state-based organisation. Many people in Queensland are still angry at the Queensland Labor Government for legalising late-term abortion up to birth, for any reason last year – and a number of these people quickly became "Put Labor Last" activists, in turn influencing whole communities to vote Labor and Greens last.

"The fact is, the truth about Labor's policies hurt them, and quite frankly they deserved it. Politicians and parties who advocate blatant savagery do not deserve to be in Parliament and all efforts will always be made to remove them or to stop them taking power.

“In some seats where we worked extensively there has been over a 11% swing towards to Coalition. While the counting continues - we can already see the success of the campaign is quite incredible in some areas. In the Forde electorate in Queensland, which was sitting on a 0.6% margin, we ran a concentrated and local Put Labor Last campaign, which no doubt helped usher in the swing of over 8% against Labor. Another particularly pleasing aspect of this wonderful election result was helping to oust EMILY’s List pro-abortion activists in Herbert, Longman and Braddon.

“It's been a great victory for life which will no doubt go down in the history books. Overall, it’s fair to say Cherish Life’s national Put Labor Last campaign played a small but significant role in a miraculous election victory,” Ms Johnson said.

Cherish Life Queensland is overjoyed with the life-valuing outcome of the federal election.

“Labor boasted about its extreme late-term abortion policy platform at its national conference late last year. What Labor promised meant that if Bill Shorten won government, through the threat of withholding federal health funding, all legal protection from the unborn would have been removed right across Australia and taxpayer-funded public hospitals would have been forced to perform abortions on request - even late-term abortions of healthy babies of healthy mothers.

“This policy was absolutely disgraceful and abhorrent, and as advocates for the right to life and protectors of unborn human life we simply had to act, and act big,” Ms Teeshan Johnson, executive director of Cherish Life Queensland said.

“We designed a national ‘Put Labor Last’ campaign to educate Australians on Labor’s disturbing open-slather abortion mission. (Campaign details including the 25 target seats are below.)

“Our multi-faceted pro-life campaign was run in 25 marginal seats across Australia. Of those seats 17 were Liberal/LNP/Independent and 8 Labor. Of the Coalition seats, we were successful in helping to retain all but 2, and helped oust pro-abortion Labor in 5 seats plus help transfer the seat of Chisholm back to the Liberals.

"Queensland had particularly good results. Our investment per seat was biggest in Queensland, so too our network being a state-based organisation. Many people in Queensland are still angry at the Queensland Labor Government for legalising late-term abortion up to birth, for any reason last year – and a number of these people quickly became "Put Labor Last" activists, in turn influencing whole communities to vote Labor and Greens last.

"The fact is, the truth about Labor's policies hurt them, and quite frankly they deserved it. Politicians and parties who advocate blatant savagery do not deserve to be in Parliament and all efforts will always be made to remove them or to stop them taking power.

“In some seats where we worked extensively there has been over a 11% swing towards to Coalition. While the counting continues - we can already see the success of the campaign is quite incredible in some areas. In the Forde electorate in Queensland, which was sitting on a 0.6% margin, we ran a concentrated and local Put Labor Last campaign, which no doubt helped usher in the swing of over 8% against Labor. Another particularly pleasing aspect of this wonderful election result was helping to oustEMILY’s List pro-abortion activists in Herbert, Longman and Braddon.

“It's been a great victory for life which will no doubt go down in the history books. Overall, it’s fair to say Cherish Life’s national Put Labor Last campaign played a small but significant role in a miraculous election victory,” Ms Johnson said.

CAMPAIGN DETAILS

• 710,000 educational flyers (photo below)– letterboxed in 25 electorates in Qld, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, SA & WA by pro-life activists.
• TV commercial – aired quite extensively on Channel 7 and Channel 10 WIN in Rockhampton over the electorates of Flynn and Capricornia, in Mackay (Dawson) and Townsville (Herbert and Dawson), as well as a lighter run on Channel 7 in Perth metro, Brisbane metro and Sydney metro.
• Radio ad - airing the attached radio ad on top stations in north and central Queensland, northern Tasmania, Brisbane metro, Sydney metro (including the Blue Mountains) and Perth metro (covering the 4 target electorates).
• Print newspaper ads in statewide newspapers (Qld x 2 ads, NSW, WA & TAS), regional papers (Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton & Emerald) & local papers (Logan area).
• Social media targeted and tailored communications in key regions.
• Digital media in Queensland (News Corp) for 4 days (photo at top of press release).
• Community engagement and influence with our wonderful supporters to motivate their own communities to PUT LABOR LAST.
• Election Day support - in an unprecedented fashion, the day before the election we encouraged our supporters to hand out how-to-vote cards for the LNP after seeing the polls were so tight, in the final bid to keep Labor out.
• PUT LABOR LAST campaign URL: www.laborlast.org.au

25 TARGET SEATS

QLD – 9 Seats

1. FLYNN – LNP RETAIN
2. CAPRICORNIA – LNP RETAIN
3. HERBERT – LNP GAIN
4. LONGMAN – LNP GAIN
5. PETRIE - LNP RETAIN
6. DICKSON- LNP RETAIN
7. FORDE- LNP RETAIN
8. BONNER – LNP RETAIN
9. DAWSON - LNP RETAIN
   
   

NSW- 5 seats

1. LINDSAY – LIBERAL GAIN
2. MACUARIE – ALP RETAIN
3. ROBERTSON – LIBERAL RETAIN
4. BANKS – LIBERAL RETAIN
5. GILMORE – ALP GAIN
   
   

WA – 4 seats

1. SWAN - LIBERAL RETAIN
2. COWAN – ALP RETAIN
3. HASLUCK – LIBERAL RETAIN
4. PEARCE – LIBERAL RETAIN
   
   

VICTORIA – 3 seats

1. CHISHOLM -– LIBERAL GAIN
2. LA TROBE – LIBERAL RETAIN
3. DUNKLEY – ALP GAIN
   
   

TASMANIA – 3 seats

1. BASS – LIBERAL GAIN
2. BRADDON – LIBERAL GAIN
3. LYONS – ALP RETAIN
   
   

SA – 1 seat

1. BOOTHBY- LIBERAL RETAIN 
   
   

N.B. Our sister organisation in Victoria, Pro-Life Victoria generously paid for the PUT LABOR LAST flyers for their state and arranged distribution, and our sister organisation in WA, Right to Life WA did a tremendous job of distributing around 120,000 flyers in the 4 target seats there.

MESSAGING

LETTERBOX FLYER FOR QLD

Newspaper print ad for outside of Qld / Letterbox flyer for NSW, VIC, TAS, WA & SA shared this messaging

EXCLUSION ZONES RULING: A SAD DAY FOR DEMOCRACY & A CRUSHING BLOW TO THE UNBORN

“In a week where we have seen militant vegan activism, those protecting innocent babies and their mothers are being told they have no place in our society.” Ms Teeshan Johnson, executive director of Cherish Life Queensland

Cherish Life Queensland has condemned the High Court decision to uphold exclusion zones around clinics as tragic for the unborn and a blight on democracy.

“It’s a very disappointing decision. It’s a crushing defeat for democracy and almost as much as it is for the unborn.” Ms Teeshan Johnson, executive director of Cherish Life Queensland said.

“There have been many cases of women making a decision to keep their babies after encountering kind and caring ‘side-walk’ counselors outside abortion clinics. As well as saving babies, they have saved women from the agony of regret and sometimes-physical injury that comes with abortion. Such kindness is about saving women as much as it is saving babies. 

“People should also have the right to pray outside abortion clinics, but that democratic right to practice ones faith has been quashed today.

“Despite all the medical evidence proving the humanity of the unborn, including sophisticated ultra-sounds and embryology, our legal systems refuses personhood to the unborn before birth. No other rights make sense, if the right to life is not extended to unborn human beings. 

“Just this week Melbourne vegan activists brought the city to a grinding holt. In Queensland vegan activists trespassed, frightened primary industry workers and even demanded three lambs from an abattoir - yet no one has been charged. The hypocrisy and double standards in our justice system beggars belief. It appears the Australian legal system protects chickens and lambs more than unborn human beings.

“It is a sad day for Australia when our highest judiciary favours protecting of an industry which destroys human lives over the democratic freedoms of peaceful citizens.” Ms Johnson said.

ENDS

Media enquiries to Teeshan Johnson

Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a human being, whether it be by the physician or through assisting the person to commit suicide. It's important to note that euthanasia is not refusing treatment, ceasing treatment for a terminally ill or critically injured person, nor unintentionally hastening death by administering strong pain relief such as morphine to a terminally ill person.

Euthanasia is a form of killing, usually assisted- killing. Euthanasia, like abortion, corrupts the ethos of medicine which fundamentally exists for the health and longevity of human beings. It is so dangerous and contrary to good medical practice that all the peak medical bodies in Australia and overseas are opposed to it, here is the Australian Medical Association's position statement against euthanasia.

Euthanasia advocates give the false impression that terminally ill patients have to suffer excruciating pain and dreadful agony. This is simply not the case with the advanced palliative care available today in Australia.

The misnomer “assisted dying” attempts to obscure the fact we are talking about killing. Terms like "Dying with Dignity" the euthanasia lobby often calls itself in Australia is highly deceptive, inferring that is it dignified to legalise killing and that a natural death is somehow undignified. Euthanasia signals that that the value of life is determined by ability and health, and diminishes when those things are compromised, this dangerous philosophy is simply not true. Legalising euthanasia would also be counter-productive to combating Australia's suicide epidemic.

Euthanasia is a slippery slope, it always starts off with narrow parameters and over time broadens as difficult cases present. This has been seen overseas - for example in Belgium and The Netherlands they are now euthanasing children. There are no effective safeguards when it comes to euthanasia.

Those who experience isolation and depression most are at highest risk of ideas of suicide, euthanasia exposes these already vulnerable people to further risks and feelings of worthlessness. Euthanasia is also open to terrible abuse, the vulnerable elderly and the disabled are at risk of coercion and feeling like they are a "burden", it also damages the trust between doctor and patient.

Queensland is very under-resourced when it comes to palliative care specialists and aged care facilities. This is what the government should be addressing, not looking at ways to kill people. What Queenslanders need is care, not killing - which is exactly what euthanasia is.

Euthanasia could easily be explained as “abortion at the other end of life”. The subjects are dehumanised and therefore able to be treated as being lesser human beings, and be disregarded without too much concern. The arguments for both have the same modus operandi.

The Euthanasia debate is always emotional

Proponents of euthanasia use emotional arguments to sell their case because the cold hard facts are condemning, as euthanasia, just like abortion, is in fact taking of life. Emotional buy-in is sought because once the bait is taken; the rational processing of facts is suspended.

Euthanasia and “assisted suicide” activists will give examples of intolerable suffering and pain. Sometimes this happens because the condition simply isn’t managed properly. The reality is that, for a palliative care professional, genuinely untreatable pain is a very rare event, and even these cases further sedation options are available to help to make the dying process tolerable.

Good palliative care can make a world of difference, as it improves the quality of life for patients who are suffering near the end of life. Palliative care is a specialty of medicine often overlooked in budget allocation; sadly there is a shortage of palliative specialists and carers in Queensland. Some recipients of good palliative care can go onto make a remarkable recovery - at Cabrini Health’s palliative care facility in Melbourne, half of their palliative care patients actually walk back out the front door after treatment.

So what’s the euthanasia debate really about?

It’s all about suicide. What activists are really asking for is an exception to the Criminal Code against homicide so they can get someone else to perform the deed.

Not only is this legalisation prone to abuses including elder abuse, it suffers from scope creep, corrupts healthy medical culture, and is inherently dangerous, as evidenced by the over 60 “safeguards” written into the Victorian legislation.

Euthanasia activist groups have always been about suicide. In the US, the Compassion and Choices organisation was originally known as the Hemlock Society until 2003 when it changed its name. In Australia, the right-to-die societies have mostly taken on the Dying With Dignity naming and have hidden their classes on how to die, so they will no longer be seen as extreme and politicians will be prepared to deal with them.

The outlier on how-to-die workshops is Australia's “Dr Death” Philip Nitschke, whom the other groups dare not mention. Having abandoned the legislative approach, he’s taken the technology route instead and has no reason to be anything less than intellectually honest as to what it’s all about.

Euthanasia and its euphemistic step-sister “assisted suicide” undermines government and community efforts to curtail the Australian suicide epidemic.

Ultimately, this is about killing people. We need to be strong and consistent in our stand to protect human life from conception to natural death.

This federal election, Labor has made nationwide open-slather “free” abortions part of its policy platform.

While it’s heart-breaking that the war on unborn human beings rages stronger still, there is a small silver lining: Labor’s killing agenda, no doubt largely EMILY’s List driven, is no longer a dirty little caucus secret – it’s been proclaimed to the world! Hopefully, this cruel killing agenda will cost them the election.

Over the years, Labor state and territory governments have made unrestricted access to late-term abortion a policy priority, as evidenced by their successful implementation of brutal late-term abortion laws in Queensland, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory (see table below for details). A Labor victory in the federal election would herald unprecedented pressure on the states and territories to provide abortions at all taxpayer-funded public hospitals, so abortion is free across Australia. Labor has openly threatened it could withhold up to billions of dollars worth of health funding to the states and territories in the event of non-compliance.

Labor’s abortion plans also include pressuring the NSW state government to decriminalise abortion, and to build an abortion clinic in Tasmania courtesy of the humble taxpayer, as well as pressuring the SA state government to fully decriminalise abortion – as that state operates under a hybrid model.

Of course, this extreme accessibility is unnecessary from a purely supply perspective, as the abortion industry is already thriving in Australia. There are around 70,000 to 80,000 abortions a year – tragically Australia’s abortion rate is one of the highest among developed nations. In comparison, the US abortion rate is 30% lower than ours and Germany’s abortion rate is 70% less. Even in NSW where abortion is still technically  under the Criminal Code, abortion access is high, evidenced by the 20,000 aborted babies in the state every year.

Offering free abortion is sure to be a vote-winner for Labor, because everyone loves free stuff, right? Not so in the case of abortion. 51% of Queenslanders are opposed to public funding of abortion (ref question 21). And it’s a safe bet that the typical taxpayer won’t be wildly excited about the estimated $80 million plus cost to the public purse to fund the killing of more babies. Under Labor, public hospitals will be tasked with the nightmare of aborting unborn babies on demand, even full-term healthy babies to healthy mothers, as is already the case in Victoria.

At present, only about 10% of terminations in Australia are performed in public hospitals, so increasing that to close to 100% of abortions (because why pay when it’s free elsewhere) would put a tremendous strain on our health care system. It’s likely that wait times would blow out further, and that all trainee doctors in public hospitals would have to train in performing surgical and medical abortions. Obviously, the idea of performing an abortion is repugnant to many, particularly those of a monotheist faith (Christianity, Judaism or Islam) – which represents well over 50% of the Australian population according to the 2016 census. The thought of performing an abortion is likely to deter many people of faith from studying medicine. In time this would lead to a decrease in the quality of students studying medicine (as typically only the best students are accepted) and more doctor shortages, which would no doubt be mostly felt in rural regional areas. The ramifications of making abortion free and on demand with no restrictions is far-reaching and culture-shifting - it would undeniably corrupt the life-saving ethos of public hospitals.  

Federal Shadow Health Minister Catherine King, who is also an EMILY’s Lister (surprise!) said a Labor federal government would fix the “patchwork of inconsistent laws” across Australia. Crudely put, she wants abortion like McDonald’s - wherever you go in Australia you can get exactly the same thing. In practice, this would mean pressure on the states and territories with comparatively less extreme abortion laws to loosen them further to be in line with the most extreme jurisdictions  – namely Victoria, Queensland and the ACT where abortion to birth has been legalised for any reason. This is consistent with the objective of EMILY’s List’s, and now Labor’s, philosophy of having unrestricted access to free abortion right through pregnancy. In other words, abortion would be legal to birth for any reason in every state under Labor’s intended totalitarian abortion regime. 

It’s painfully clear that Labor’s plans would put upward pressure on the incidence of abortion, and there’s no doubt that under a under Labor there would be more abortions, including late-term abortions. Late-term abortions in Victorian have gone up on average by 40% year since the passing of Labor’s abortion-to-birth Bill there in 2008.  Also of concern is that there is no proposal to increase the accessibility and funding of alternatives to abortion like adoption. So much for so-called “choice” that Labor espouses. Australia’s adoption rate is shamefully bad - in the financial year 2017/2018 there were 32 local adoptions while there were approximately 80,000 abortions. That is an abortion to adoption rate of 2,500 to 1. This would only get worse with a Shorten Labor government.

This federal election, like no other federal election in Australia’s history, everyone’s vote will be for life or death. A vote for Labor or Greens will be a vote for more abortion, including the legal taxpayer-funded termination of babies to full term.

Preferences are likely to be crucially important at this election, as the result may well come down to the wire. In practically every election, preferences determine which party has the numbers to win government.

Please number each box on your ballot paper carefully, as in this election preferences may well have the power to save or kill.

It’s crucially important that all of us who love life spread the word: A vote for Labor this election will mean more babies killed and more women harmed by abortion.

Please vote for life, by putting Labor and Greens LAST this federal election.

SUMMARY OF AUSTRALIAN ABORTION LAWS – LABOR’s ABORTION OBSESSION

1. Australian State & Territory Termination of Pregnancy jurisdictions

2. Expanded summary of abortion laws

Cherish Life Queensland has sharply condemned federal Labor for its election commitment to make abortion 100% free and open slather right across Australia, as unnecessary and brutal.

“Labor is becoming known as the late-term abortion party - it seems to be their disturbing obsession. Nowadays the ALP stands for the Anti-Life Party,” Ms Teeshan Johnson, executive director of Cherish Life Queensland said.

“Every extreme abortion law in the Australian states and territories has been the work of a Labor majority government with a Labor abortion Bill, and now Labor want to the same federally. It’s a disgrace and completely unnecessary - there is already abortion on demand right across Australia. Australia has one of the highest rates of abortion per capita amongst developed nations and has the worst abortion to adoption ratio.

“In Queensland, some women in rural and regional areas are being forced to have babies on the side of the road because successive state Labor governments have closed down numerous rural and regional birthing centres, while under a Labor federal government essential health funds would be used for the killing of babies. The situation for babies and women under any Labor government is dire.

“The price tag for abortions annually across Australia is close to $70 million, despite the fact that many taxpayers don’t want to pay for killing babies and harming women.

“Using more taxpayer money to further fund the killing of unborn babies is an abrogation of the first duty of government, which is to protect innocent human life. MPs and candidates of this extreme abortion mindset do not deserve to be in government, and we will be doing all we can to keep them out of government, and cause them to lose their seats to pro-life politicians.

“As a consequence of Labor’s abortion platform, Cherish Life in conjunction with other pro-life communities are campaigning against EMILY’s List MPs and helping pro-life MPs ahead of the federal election. We urge all who respect human life to get involved, and put Labor last this election. A vote for Labor will be a vote for more abortion.

“Ridiculous and misleading claims from the pro-abortion lobby that the number of abortions would not increase if they were made free and even more accessible defies logic, the laws of economics and international trends. The way to decrease abortion rates is through education, better social supports and services for pregnant women like counselling, as well as adoption reform – none of these practical pro-woman measures are in Labor’s brutal policy platform. “ Ms Johnson said.

The campaign to legalise euthanasia in Queensland is based on deception and fear, according to Cherish Life Queensland.

“There is nothing dignified about killing a vulnerable human being, who is in need of good medical care, support and protection,” Cherish Life Queensland executive director Teeshan Johnson said.

“This push to create a culture of death is utterly counter-productive to combating Australia’s suicide epidemic.

“The campaign to legalise euthanasia in Queensland is based on deception and fear.
 
“Euthanasia advocates give the false impression that terminally ill patients have to suffer excruciating pain and dreadful agony.

“This is simply not the case with the advanced health care available today in Australia.

“It is entirely ethical, completely legal and best medical practice for a doctor to do whatever it takes to relieve a patient’s pain, even if it has the unintended but possible effect of hastening death.

“In the very rare cases when physical pain cannot be managed adequately, palliative care specialists can use a form of light sedation to keep the dying patient comfortable, whether to allow a brief ‘time out’ at peaks of pain, or to manage terminal symptoms.  

“If euthanasia was legalised, any terminally ill patients, who need love and care, would feel pressure - whether real or imagined - to do ‘the right thing’ and request euthanasia so they are not ‘a burden on their family’.  

“No safeguards are effective when it comes to euthanasia. It is open to serious manipulation and can be the worst and ultimate form of abuse of those who are ill, elderly, or disabled.

“This is one of the many reasons why the Australian Medical Association is opposed to the legalisation of euthanasia and instead supports palliative care, which is the true form of assisted dying.

“Palliative care focuses on relieving pain and keeping patients comfortable in order to allow a natural and dignified death at their appointed time.  
“Good medical practice is all about facilitating natural death with dignity and peace.

“As part of this care, patients have autonomy and choice, as they have the right to refuse medical treatment that they consider to be futile or burdensome, or delaying the dying process.

“Doctors should kill the pain, not the patient.

“There is no need for euthanasia to be legalised and to do so would be extremely bad public policy.

“The Queensland Parliament inquiry into end-of-life issues must encompass the need for adequate resourcing of palliative care and public education on the dying process, and examine the abuses that occur in the Netherlands, one of the few countries where euthanasia is legal.”

Cherish Life Queensland has welcomed the growing popularity of the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland (NPAQ) at the expense of the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU).

“The QNMU, like the AMAQ, did not properly survey or consult its members before giving public support to the extreme and brutal Termination of Pregnancy Bill, whereas the NPAQ did not support the Bill,” Ms Teeshan Johnson, executive director of Cherish Life Queensland said.

“A high proportion of Cherish Life supporters are doctors and nurses and, like all pro-lifers, they were appalled by the support given by the QNMU and AMAQ to this abortion-to-birth law - particularly considering that the Termination of Pregnancy Act does not afford a full conscientious objection to doctors, nurses and pharmacists, who at the very least must refer for abortion and therefore be complicit in the outcome.

“Cherish Life also welcomes the commencement of a rival teacher’s union to the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU). The QTU also was very vocal in its support of the Termination of Pregnancy Act.

“We will be encouraging our members who are teachers to consider exiting the pro-abortion QTU, if they haven’t already, and joining the new union.

“Sadly, many of the long-established unions have been hijacked by extreme left-wing social engineers who use the unions’ influence and money for social degradation rather than truly representing and helping the members.

“If the AMAQ’s leadership doesn’t dramatically change for the better, we hope that a rival medical association arises in Queensland,” Ms Johnson said.

ENDS