While spruiking promised funding for a youth drop-in centre in Rockhampton, and criticising Labor for a perceived refusal to talk about youth crime, the local LNP candidate avoided even saying the word “abortion”.

Donna Kirkland was quizzed about whether her views on the issue had changed since she shared a post in 2019 from The Australian Christians Party which labelled it “the greatest human rights abuse of our time”.

In response, she offered only variations of the same lines Crisafulli and others have been repeating: “we’ve ruled that out” and “it’s not part of our plan”.

Asked what “it” and “that” was, Kirkland would not even say.

As to whether she considered the procedure healthcare, Kirkland said, “we have ruled out any conversation around that”.

Crisafulli then stepped in, to bat away the questions himself, before describing it as a “serious issue”.

“And the fact that we have as a team taken a decision that it’s not part of our plan, and we’ve ruled it out, should give comfort to every person in Queensland,” he said.