BARNABY JOYCE has defended his role in a statewide anti-abortion robo-call campaign which was funded by the Foundation for Human Development.
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The Leader was told the calls reached outside of his electorate and urged people to contact their local state MPs and voice their displeasure with the state government's reproductive health care reform bill.
Dubbo resident Veronica Hudson was taken aback by the call.
"I'm not in the electorate," she said.
"And what if I'm not displeased with the bill?"
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She said it was a women's rights issue and asked what right Mr Joyce had to launch a robo-call campaign such as this outside of his electorate.
In a written response, Mr Joyce defended his role in the campaign and said he wouldn't mind if state politicians from outside New England began lobbying in the region.
"Yes, I would find it appropriate if the matter warranted it," he said.
"I find it ridiculous we've had a longer inquiry into caged birds than this legislation and the brevity of the inquiry inspired the intensity of the response as people are not given the right to have the issue properly ventilated."
Mr Joyce said he consulted with his state counterparts on the anti-abortion campaign, including Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders, Kevin Anderson and deputy premier John Barilaro.
Mr Anderson wouldn't be drawn on whether he was disappointed with Mr Joyce's insertion into the state policy debate and said it was a "matter for him".
"He has a right to his views, and that's his view," Mr Anderson said.
The Tamworth MP voted in favour of the bill after conducting a community survey which found 50.9 per cent of respondents supported it.
While it was only a slim majority of the Tamworth electorate which supported the decriminalisation bill, Mr Anderson said he hadn't received any blow-back from the community since the lower house vote.
He said a number of responses had come back to his office which said while they didn't agree with the bill, they had accepted the outcome and the survey results.
Nationals MLC Trevor Khan, who was one of the 14 politicians to co-sponsor the bill, said he didn't begrudge Mr Joyce's attempt to influence the debate.
"Every member of the community is entitled to have a view - Barnaby clearly has got a very strong view and that's unsurprising," Mr Khan said.
The Tamworth-raised politician said there could be up to 40 amendments moved in the Upper House.
However, those amendments will not be debated until parliament resumes in September, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian moving to delay the bill to placate furious MPs who believed the process had been rushed.