More than 6000 sign accountability and transparency petition

I tabled a petition of 6221 signatures on 11 February, the same day the 2020 session of Parliament commenced.

These signatures had been collected by The Coalition for the Defence of Human Life (CDHL) from WA citizens concerned about the lack of oversight around late term abortions.

Since coming into office in 2017, the current Health Minister, Hon Roger Cook has ordered that the reporting requirement for the panel who assess and grant approval for late term abortions, implemented by Liberal Health Minister Dr Kim Hames, be discontinued.  This means that at this point in time, there is no accountability and transparency around this process.

The submitted petition requests an inquiry into post-20 week abortions performed in Western Australia with a view to

(i) reinstating a robust accountability mechanism with Ministerial oversight and

(ii) ending discrimination against the unborn child. 

You can read my submission here.

This petition was referred to the Environment and Public Affairs Committee for consideration and they inquired of the Health Minister Roger Cook MLA who stated “given that most of the information on the annual confidential report is already publicly available, and considering the need to use resources efficiently, I will not be recommending an inquiry into the ceasing of the annual confidential report to the Minister for Health on induced abortions of 20 weeks or more gestation.”

You can read Minister Cook’s letter here.

I will continue to pursue the reinstatement of a reporting mechanism to ensure transparency, so that Post 20 week abortions are not being performed for discriminatory reasons.