'NSW Liberal overwhelmingly unites behind Berejiklian’

17/09/2019

(Translation appears in Arabic section)

New South Wales Attorney General Mark Speakman says NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has “the overwhelming support of party members because she led us to victory and is a premier that is working extremely hard”. The premier spent Monday night locked in crisis talks after Tanya Davies, Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato pledged to “hold her to account” over the controversial abortion bill.

The contentious abortion bill, which was put forward by Independent MP Alex Greenwich, passed the lower house 59 to 31 in a conscience vote with the support of Labor and the Nationals. Mr Speakman told reporters on Tuesday "it’s up to the upper house, individual MPs to decide how to vote on this bill, it is not a government bill, it is beyond the power of the premier to direct MPs how to vote, if that is what these three MPs want then they are misguided". “The vast majority of Liberal MPs realise the electors don’t want a circus and don’t want to see a repetition of what happened in Canberra," he said.