Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of NSW

Gladys Berejiklian, the Premier of New South Wales —at least for now—has finally displayed her true colours. And just like every other conservative voter in the state, I was shocked to see just how green they actually are.

Even before Alex Greenwich’s (note again the colour!) “Reproductive Rights Bill” encouraging the practice of unlimited abortion up till birth is ratified by the Upper House, Greenwich posted his jubilation on Twitter:  

A person I know runs a crisis pregnancy help centre called Hope House located in Prestons. As a result of being a former prostitute and drug addict she herself has had a number of abortions. But even though she is now in her 60s, the death of each one of those babies still fills her with immense sadness and grief.

But it is this latest legislative decision promoting abortion, facilitated by Premier Berejiklian, that really makes her angry. Her response:

“Murderers of our children. Child sacrifice for blessing of what we prefer to desire.”

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for her position. Especially with equating abortion to the ancient pagan practice of child sacrifice. As Dr Charles W. Patrick explains:

[Molech]…was an Ammonite god who required propitiatory child sacrifice. A couple sacrificed their firstborn by burning the child on a metal idol of Molech, believing that Molech would ensure financial prosperity for the family and future children. The Israelites were strictly forbidden to practice this form of worship… as it is in stark contradiction to the sanctity of life espoused throughout the Bible. Today’s Molech is the abortion industry, sacrificing babies for the idol of financial greed, veiled in the hopes of the development of new cures through biomedical research.

While I haven’t seen the movie, and nor would I encourage anyone watch it, it seems that the Premier has taken on the persona of Rosamund Pike’s character in Gone Girl, that is, someone who appears one way in public, but in private is completely different. As Alan Jones wrote in The Daily Telegraph:

There are quiet Australians who voted for Berejiklian and Morrison, from Asian and ethnic backgrounds, with a firm belief in traditional family values, who are agog at what they see as a betrayal and the weakness of the leadership in articulating an appropriate response. This matter deserved the input of people beyond the confines of Parliament House.

And if New South Wales needed abortion on demand, right up until birth, why was there not a syllable about this articulated during the election campaign?

Jones went on to rightly conclude:

There is genuine anger from people who feel that these are the concerns they voted for on March 18 which have now been ruthlessly sidelined by an issue about which they have been given no say. How many more people can you put off-side? This, they call, betrayal.  And voters don’t forget or forgive betrayal.

And yet, the NSW Premier doesn’t seem to fully comprehend how tenuous her position as leader has become, brushing off rumours in The Australian that she will do what her former boss, Mike Baird, did when he took a job mid-term in the banking sector. If I were a Coalition MP at the moment, then I’d definitely be investigating a possible exit strategy.

I’m unsure whether Berejiklian will quit or not before the next election. But one thing is for certain: if this Bill is passed by the Upper House then the blood of future generations of Australians will be on her hands long after she has gone. And is that the kind of political legacy she really wants to be remembered for?

Mark Powell is a columnist for The Spectator Australia and the Associate Pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, Strathfield. This article has been republished from The Daily Declaration blog with permission.

Mark Powell is the Minister at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, in Hobart, Tasmania.