Queensland Liberal National MPs have been actively discouraged from engaging with voluntary assisted dying campaigners or holding community forums on proposed new laws, prompting concerns the party could shelve reform efforts if it wins government.
The Queensland law reform commission is drafting legislation on voluntary assisted dying that would be handed to the next government, after the October election.
If the draft laws are debated in parliament, both major parties have committed to granting MPs a conscience vote.
However, it is unlikely that the LNP would bring a bill to the floor of parliament if it wins power in October, given the party platform formally opposes laws that allow for euthanasia.
The last time Queensland MPs were granted a notional conscience vote, in 2018, the LNP executive threatened to disendorse members if they voted to decriminalise abortion.
In anticipation of a debate and conscience vote as early as next year, Palliative Care Queensland and the Clem Jones Group had been attempting to hold forums in each state electorate to discuss voluntary assisted dying.
While many Labor MPs agreed to host the forums, only three from the LNP – retiring MPs Mark McArdle and Simone Wilson, and since-retired MP Jann Stuckey – took part.
Stuckey – who recently raised concerns the LNP had moved towards the Christian right – told Guardian Australia the office of the state leader, Deb Frecklington, would often attempt to discourage MPs from hosting or taking part in this type of forum.
“We were actively told not to meet with people campaigning on topical issues,” Stuckey said.
“The directive came from Deb’s office, we were told to let the shadow minister have the meetings.”
Opinion polls show more than 80% of Queenslanders support voluntary assisted dying in some form.
When asked for their views, LNP candidates and MPs have mostly given pro forma responses that they cannot declare a position until they have seen the specific legislation.
A spokesman for Frecklington gave a similar response when asked whether the LNP, if it won government, would allow a debate on voluntary assisted dying. Her office said the party’s priority was to improve palliative care.
“We will await the report by the Law Reform Commission but there is no legislation to examine right now,” the spokesman said.
“Labor put this process in place and we are disappointed that the Palaszczuk government hasn’t progressed a much-needed overhaul of palliative care.”
The uncommitted stance from the LNP and its members has frustrated supporters of voluntary assisted dying, who say a parliamentary committee has already provided significant detail about what the laws would entail.
David Muir, the chair of the Clem Jones Trust, which is campaigning in favour of voluntary assisted dying laws, said he was struggling to engage LNP members.
When told the LNP appeared to be discouraging MPs from hosting forums or declaring a position, Muir said: “That explains the response I’m getting.
“There’s a hunger for information about palliative care and a hunger for information about voluntary assisted dying,” Muir said.
“It’s become evident that LNP parliamentarians I’ve engaged with have been given a template response.”
Frecklington reiterated that MPs would be given a conscience vote during any parliamentary debate on voluntary assisted dying, and said they were “free to meet with any group they wish to discuss policies or matters affecting their constituents”.
There is a growing sense among Labor MPs that the party’s progressive social policies can solidify its position in Queensland, particularly in urban areas, while the LNP’s positions have been guided by its increasingly conservative and Christian membership.
Some LNP moderates have told Guardian Australia they were worried about the consequences of a recent policy announcement that the party would review aspects of the state’s historic abortion decriminalisation laws.
One former MP said that while he supported the detail of the LNP’s plan – which would review gestation limits, counselling arrangements and protections against coercion – it was “utter madness to think talking about abortion before an election is a remotely good idea”.
“There’s a reason we only hold four seats in Brisbane, and it’s reinforced every time we have a debate about social policy like same-sex marriage and abortion,” he said.
Political commentator Paul Williams, from Griffith University, said the LNP announcement on abortion appeared to be “ideologically parochial” rather than smart politics.
“What is not understandable is why a party that has been in opposition for so long, and is staring down the barrel of defeat yet again, would be so parochial they would make policy based on their own convictions that doesn’t appeal to [urban] constituents.
“They’re handing Labor a rod to beat them over the head with.”