Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled in childbirth

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Cite

Shepherd, T., & Dhanji, K. (2026, October 15). Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled in childbirth. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/15/labor-coalition-bill-banning-shackling-incarcerated-women-ntwnfb

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-15 · by Tory Shepherd, Krishani Dhanji

Quick Summary

Senator Lidia Thorpe introduced a bill in the Senate aimed at banning the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth and preventing strip-searching of their children. However, both Labor and the Coalition plan to reject the bill, citing that criminal justice responsibilities lie with state and territory governments. Queensland Liberal senator Paul Scarr criticized his party’s stance, expressing deep concern over the practice and urging for further action to address the issue.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-15, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As of 2026-10-15, Labor and Coalition are set to reject a bill that would have banned the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth in Australia. Independent senator Lidia Thorpe introduced two bills into the Senate aimed at preventing such practices and stopping children from being strip-searched. The government argued that the responsibility for criminal justice falls on state and territory governments, while Coalition stated it understood the bill's intent but would not support its passage.

Queensland Liberal senator Paul Scarr broke ranks to criticize the major parties, expressing deep concern over the widespread practice of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth. He pledged to raise this issue with Queensland’s attorney general, Deb Frecklington, and urged the prime minister to convene a national cabinet meeting to address the matter.

Written for “Shackling Of Incarcerated Women Banned Bill” on 2026-10-15, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but every quote it verified points right, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 80959: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-10-15

Story

📰 Shackling Of Incarcerated Women Banned Bill
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
8
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 8 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
67/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

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Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Tory Shepherd
5 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Labor and the Coalition are set to reject a bill that would have banned the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth, with the government saying it was the responsibility of the states and territories.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled in childbirth
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
Krishani Dhanji
11 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Labor and the Coalition are set to reject a bill that would have banned the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth, with the government saying it was the responsibility of the states and territories.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled in childbirth
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Also by Krishani Dhanji
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All 11 articles by Krishani Dhanji →

Topics

Coalition Labor Liberal Queensland Senate

Subjects

Coalition ORG · 2× Queensland GPE · 2× Senate ORG · 2× Australia GPE · 1× Deb Frecklington PERSON · 1× Labor ORG · 1× Liberal NORP · 1× Lidia Thorpe PERSON · 1× Paul Scarr PERSON · 1× Thorpe PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Queensland Liberal senator Paul Scarr broke ranks to condemn the major parties, describing himself as “deeply concerned” by the Australia-wide practice and vowing to raise it with the Queensland attorney general, Deb Frecklington.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15
🔮 Labor and the Coalition are set to reject a bill that would have banned the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth, with the government saying it was the responsibility of the states and territories.
2026-10-15 · The Guardian
Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled in childbirth · assertive framing

Claims (8 extracted, 0 hedged)

Labor and the Coalition are set to reject a bill that would have banned the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth, with the government saying it was the responsibility of the states and territories. asserted
it → set → states
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe introduced the bills into the Senate, which would prevent shackling and stop children being strip-searched. asserted
children → introduce → shackling
“In 2026 people can be shackled while giving birth, and children can can also have their clothes removed by adults to examine their bodies legally,” Thorpe told the Senate. asserted
Thorpe → shackle → Senate
“The people sitting in this room have the power to end these barbaric, inhumane traumatic and totally unnecessary practices.” asserted
people → sit → practices
The government said “the responsibility of criminal justice system predominantly sits with state and territory governments”, while the Coalition said it “understands the intent” of the bill but also would not support its passage. asserted
it → say → passage
Queensland Liberal senator Paul Scarr broke ranks to condemn the major parties, describing himself as “deeply concerned” by the Australia-wide practice and vowing to raise it with the Queensland attorney general, Deb Frecklington. asserted
Scarr → break → general
He urged the prime minister to convene a national cabinet meeting. asserted
He → urge → meeting
“What I’ve heard deeply concerns me and I do hope, that this vote shouldn’t be an end to this matter, we’ve got to do better than this and we’ve got to look at ways this issue can be addressed,” Scarr said. asserted
Scarr → hear → ways
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