I was under the impression that the lot of them were as “conservative” as you’d get inside of Fred Nile, but there you go – they must also have a cadre of lefties lying fallow somewhere within the fold if we assume Ms Campion was talking sense and not just trying on some tautology and hyperbole for size.

What is more concerning is that the leader of the party (and our local member), Michael McCormack basically shrugged his shoulders and said “Meh!” when asked what he might do about the accusation: which, if it was a lie, is surely in some sense slanderous; and, if true, suggests criminality on the part of some members in any number of ways (not the least of which would be if the pressure was applied after the number of weeks when an abortion becomes illegal).

Any decent party leader would have immediately sought to contact the maker of any such heinous accusation and asked simply: Who and when? And then acted according to the reply.

Instead, Mr McCormack shows all the signs of a leader who doesn’t want to know the answers to those questions and just wishes that they’d go away.

Personally, I think that Ms Campion has the same legal rights of control over her own body as any woman.

But I abhor the idea that some, presumably senior, members of an organisation that employed her would have brought political pressure to bear on her decision.

That her public claims are now to be ignored by the Nats leadership is beyond belief. Perhaps “leadership” needs quotation marks nowadays in the Nats.

Had to laugh when I read the conditions of the proposed riverside apartments telling the builders to blend in, yet from nearly anywhere in the city you can see the modern spire of the Pavilion.

I would prefer the old architecture any day.

Only those members of government who stand against the inhumane cruelty of live animal export can honestly call themselves “honourable”.

Sussan Ley is one of them. She has stood against the party, she has stared down the Prime Minister and she has made a strong and honourable stand in seeking the end of live exports of sheep for the sake of animal welfare. 

Our reputation and our standing in the world are also on notice over this shocking and disgraceful trade. Sussan Ley has done the right thing and lives up to the title honourable. Well done Ms Ley.

A contributor to the opinion page wrote that “the Bible doesn't mention abortion or contraception”.

It does mention the latter in Genesis 38:9 and elsewhere.

However, as Bible-believing author Suzanne Woods Fisher says: “the Bible is not a book of rules, it is a conversation between a creator and those He created - a first-hand conversation not filtered through the hearsay of others.” So let us join the conversation.