QUEENSLAND Premier Peter Beattie is under fire for refusing to split a bill on human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
The bill, which mirrors federal legislation banning human cloning but allows scientists to use embryos in research, is expected to be debated in State Parliament this week.
The legislation allows research on surplus IVF embryos created prior to April 5, 2002.
A spokeswoman for Mr Beattie said he was adamant the bill would not be split and he was determined it would pass as a single bill.
She said MPs would be allowed a conscience vote.
Director of the Queensland Bioethics Centre in Brisbane archdiocese, Ray Campbell, has questioned whether this would be a true conscience vote if the bill was not split to allow those opposed to human cloning to also oppose the use of human embryos in research.
Mr Campbell said that was the reason for the bill being split for the Federal Parliament – ‘in order for the vote to truly reflect the conscience of the members of parliament’.
Mr Beattie told Caucus that MPs could exercise a conscience vote on the whole bill and then on various parts of the bill when Parliament debated individual clauses in committee.
Member for Indooroopilly, Ronan Lee, a Labor MP who is a Catholic, will move an amendment to split the bill.
Queensland Right to Life president, Dr Donna Purcell, said it was morally wrong of Mr Beattie to claim that the use of surplus IVF embryos was justified because they were unwanted and would die anyway.
Right to Life Australia’s Queensland office also urged MPs to oppose embryonic stem cell research.
