Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Voluntary assisted dying laws pass in Queensland

byMark Bowling
16 September 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
Archbishop Coleridge urges action to thwart euthanasia laws

Life and death issue: A protester opposed to euthanasia laws outside Queensland's parliament, before VAD laws passed in September 2021. Photo: Mark Bowling

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

LAWS allowing euthanasia have pass in Queensland today with a clear majority of support from members of parliament.

During a conscience vote, MPs backed a Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Bill by 61-30, legalising euthanasia for eligible Queenslanders from January 2023.

A final vote followed several days of emotional debate inside the Queensland parliament. MPs fought back tears as they told personal stories and revealed the difficulty of weighing up opposing views on euthanasia and assisted dying.

Several key political allies of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk voted against the bill, even though it was a policy centrepiece for Labor during a state election campaign last year. Queensland becomes the fifth Australian state to pass euthanasia laws.

Labor’s Joe Kelly, a nurse representing the Brisbane seat of Greenslopes voted against VAD.  Earlier he told parliament that in his professional view good palliative care could provide a dignified death.

Another Labor member to reject the bill, Linus Power representing Logan, said he was disappointed that more than 100 amendment clauses were defeated.

One of the key amendments sought was a so-called “institutional conscientious objection” that would have allowed “faith-based” hospitals and aged care facilities the right to exclude VAD from taking place in their facilities.

Labor MP Linus Power who opposed the VAD Bill.

Catholic Health Australia has run a concerted campaign to protect Catholic-run facilities that provide about 20 per cent of hospital and aged care beds in Queensland.

The new VAD law will allow terminal patients at faith-based hospitals and aged care facilities to end their lives there, if they are too sick to be moved somewhere else.

“It is deeply troubling for the wonderful men and women who run these hospitals,” Opposition deputy and member for Toowoomba South, David Janetzki, said.

Related Stories

Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

People opt for euthanasia ‘out of fear’ of being a burden

Sir Peter Cosgrove talks information age Church, Ukraine and head of state with Catholic professionals

Deeply troubling: Opposition deputy leader David Janetzki raised deep concerns about voluntary assisted dying.

Dr Mark Robinson, member for Oodgeroo told the parliament that without this particular amendment thousands of hospital beds in Queensland are at risk.

“The leaders of St Vincent’s and the Mater appealed to MPs not to force them into a position against their convictions, and I think we should listen,” he said.

“If we don’t we may pay a very high price for forcing this on these institutions that have served us well for a very long time.”

Dissenting voice: MP Mark Robinson says the Queensland government has got the euthanasia issue “very wrong”.

During debate, many MPs cited a lack of palliative care services available to all Queenslanders as a sound reason to reject VAD.

The Member for Scenic Rim Jon Krause was one of many regional voices to speak against the bill.

“We are chipping away at an absolute protection of life,” Mr Krause said.

He said palliative care could alleviate most suffering for most people but pointed out it is not easily accessible to many in regional Queensland.

He said he was fearful people would access VAD so as not to be a burden on their family.

Treasurer Cameron Dick said he supported passing VAD into law, but did so “with a troubled conscience”.

Mr Dick said he feared the laws would change how our society viewed the sanctity of life.

Soon after Queensland’s historic vote, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge expressed his view on Twitter: “The die is cast and across the Rubicon we go: some kind of victory for the government but a real defeat for Queensland, a victory for death but a defeat for life…now we await the dark spectacle of unexpected consequences.”

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Legal expert explains pitfalls of voluntary assisted dying

Next Post

Regional priest born as ‘poor as a church mouse’ left the world all the richer

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a foreign correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport
QLD

Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

16 May 2022
Hot Topics

People opt for euthanasia ‘out of fear’ of being a burden

6 April 2022
Sir Peter Cosgrove talks information age Church, Ukraine and head of state with Catholic professionals
QLD

Sir Peter Cosgrove talks information age Church, Ukraine and head of state with Catholic professionals

29 March 2022
Next Post
Faithful priest: Louisa Gasparin and John Harrison were married by Fr Valente in St Joseph’s Church in 2006.

Regional priest born as ‘poor as a church mouse’ left the world all the richer

Ancient city: Rocco Buttliere, a LEGO architect from Chicago, is seen next to the Vatican City State replica he created that was on display August 14-15 at the LEGO BrickUniverse convention at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, Los Angeles.

Architect turns 67,000 tiny LEGO pieces into Vatican City replica

Two nuns killed in South Sudan after vehicle ambushed along highway

Church leaders fed up with slow progress catching killers of two nuns

Popular News

  • Performer: Liza is a trained gymnast and contortionist and has enjoyed performing at St Eugene College.

    Young Ukrainian performer settles into new life in Brisbane school

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Catholics need better understanding of the Mass, Pope says in follow-up letter to Traditionis Custodes

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Federal and state parliamentarians encourage pro-life Queenslanders at March for Life rally

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christianity still top, but numbers decline amidst a secular shift

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Braving the cold: Caloundra Unity College Principal Daniel McShea ,Our Lady of the Rosary College Principal Dr Michael Stewart and Caloundra priest Fr Joshua Whitehead.

Fr Josh braves ‘freezing’ June night to raise awareness for homelessness at Vinnies Sleepout

by Hannah Kennelly
30 June 2022
0

WHEN asked if this year’s CEO Vinnies Sleepout was easier than the last, Caloundra priest Fr Joshua...

Catholics need better understanding of the Mass, Pope says in follow-up letter to Traditionis Custodes

Catholics need better understanding of the Mass, Pope says in follow-up letter to Traditionis Custodes

30 June 2022
Performer: Liza is a trained gymnast and contortionist and has enjoyed performing at St Eugene College.

Young Ukrainian performer settles into new life in Brisbane school

29 June 2022
Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide

Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide

29 June 2022
Tragedy: Debra Ponce, left, and Angelita Olvera of San Antonio mourn near the scene where dozens of immigrants were found dead inside a trailer truck a day earlier on June 28. Photo: CNS

Pope Francis asks for prayers after 50 migrants found dead in Texas trailer truck

29 June 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping