{"id":972918,"date":"2026-05-20T08:52:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T08:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/972918\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T08:52:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T08:52:23","slug":"queenslands-new-public-hospital-to-refuse-voluntary-assisted-dying-care-abortions-and-contraception-for-religious-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/972918\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland’s new public hospital to refuse voluntary assisted dying care, abortions and contraception for religious reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland premier has opened the state’s first major new public hospital in almost a decade \u2014 at Springfield, south-west of Brisbane \u2014 but it will not offer some services for religious reasons.<\/p>\n

Mater Hospital Springfield is a 186-bed facility expected to care for around 185,000 patients each year in one of the south-east corner’s major growth corridors.<\/p>\n

It will also employ almost 1,000 healthcare workers.<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

The Mater Hospital Springfield is Queensland’s first new major public hospital in almost a decade. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Speaking at an official opening event, Premier David Crisafulli described it as a “really truly significant day” for health care in Queensland and a milestone that would take pressure off the nearby Ipswich Hospital.<\/p>\n

“In the end it’s about health care close to home,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Health care is there for you in the moments that matter \u2014 in the best of times when you welcome a loved one into the world, in the saddest of times when you have to say goodbye to someone.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The new hospital has been delivered in partnership with Mater and will provide emergency care, maternity services, intensive care, surgery, paediatrics and specialist outpatient services.<\/p>\n

Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the LNP government had committed $638 million in funding over four years to run the hospital, which will be fully operational in the coming days.<\/p>\n

“That is wonderful for the people of western Brisbane, for Ipswich and for the greater Springfield area,” Mr Nicholls said.<\/p>\n

He said the facility would offer “a full suite of services” to the community “closer to where they live”.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Health Minister Tim Nicholls says the LNP government has committed $638 million in funding over four years to operate the hospital. (AAP: Darren England)<\/p>\n

Some health services off limits because of religion<\/p>\n

However, the taxpayer-funded Catholic-run hospital will not provide patients with voluntary assisted dying, pregnancy terminations or contraception.<\/p>\n

Mater Group chief executive Julia Strickland-Bellamy said “that’s no new news”.<\/p>\n

“We always have been a Catholic health care provider,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We can’t always deliver the care that a patient may need. Sometimes that’s regulated through our clinical services capability framework, sometimes that’s because we’re a Catholic healthcare operator.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mater Group Chief Executive Officer Julia Strickland-Bellamy says the organisation can’t provide certain types of care because of religious policies. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Ms Strickland-Bellamy said the organisation had “transfer pathways” for patients unable to get certain care because of the organisation’s religious policies.<\/p>\n

“There are alternative hospitals around where patients can access those services.”<\/p>\n

Dying with Dignity Queensland advocates for access to voluntary assisted dying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its president Kate Kunzelmann said “access to a legally-sanctioned procedure should be allowed” at Mater Hospital Springfield.<\/p>\n

She noted the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act allows for\u00a0conscientious objection.<\/p>\n

‘Principles of the Church’<\/p>\n

On its website, Mater says it “values human life from conception”.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Therefore, in accordance with the principles of the Church, we do not provide termination of pregnancy or contraceptive procedures.”<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive Officer of Children by Choice, Anjulee Singh, said the public provision of abortion and contraception services “should be a given in our community.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The CEO of Children by Choice, Anjulee Singh, says the support organisation advocates for accessible healthcare services. (ABC News: Curtis Rodda)<\/p>\n

“We believe any publicly funded institution should be providing that,” Ms Singh said.<\/p>\n

“No barriers should exist for pregnant people in accessing termination and contraception given it is legal health care.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some Queensland women who needed pregnancy terminations for medical reasons have previously told ABC News that Mater’s policies caused major distress.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Other women said they were denied surgical care for their miscarriages because staff thought the treatment could breach the abortion rules<\/a>, claims rejected by Mater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to questions from journalists about Mater’s policies, David Crisafulli said “you obviously know the Mater’s view.”<\/p>\n

“Those services are available to Queenslanders, you know that, and nothing’s changed on that and you know the commentary that was waged before the election and you know we stay true to our word,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Crisafulli said.<\/p>\n

“Those services still exist, those services exist and we fund them.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The new hospital will provide emergency care, maternity services, intensive care and more. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Abortion became an issue ahead of the last state election when Mr Crisafulli repeatedly said there would be no change to the law but would not explain how he could guarantee that given the anti-abortion views of some members of parliament.<\/p>\n

Premier locks in abortion laws<\/a><\/p>\n

Abortion dominated debate in the October state election, with the Labor party claiming the LNP would restrict a woman’s right to choose.<\/p>\n

Once in power, the LNP passed a motion to stop any MP amending the Termination of Pregnancy Act or expressing any views on it in the House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Crisafulli said the government was interested in boosting health care for Queenslanders through more public-private partnerships, including with Mater.<\/p>\n

“It is, in my mind, the kind of model we should be looking at and we’ve got to continue to strengthen our public health system, we have to continue to look at ways to work with the private sector to do that,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland premier has opened the state’s first major new public hospital in almost a decade \u2014 at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":972919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[26054,47568,105,4348,1867,271285,271286,9583,16,15],"class_list":["post-972918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-abortion","tag-contraception","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hospital","tag-mater","tag-reproductive-care","tag-springfield","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116606061054476472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/972919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}