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.
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.
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.”
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.”
