A VOLUNTARY assisted dying bill is to be introduced into Queensland Parliament next week, with Queensland potentially a step closer to becoming the fourth Australian state to legalise euthanasia.
Before the contentious VAD bill was tabled in parliament this morning, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk spoke with church leaders, including Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who is a staunch opponent of euthanasia, based on Catholic teachings.
The Premier said she supported the VAD bill after witnessing the slow, painful deaths of her grandmother and uncle last year, but she would allow Labor MPs a conscience vote in parliament.
“I’m a Catholic, I’ve thought about this long and hard,” Ms Palaszczuk told a media conference.
“I’ve had a lot of personal experiences in the last 12 months, and I have made up my mind based on what I have seen and those experiences.
“And like I said, this is a choice, and it’s not going to be the right choice for a lot of people, but it’s got to be an option for people, and far be it for me to make that individual choice on how a person wishes to end their life.”
Archbishop Coleridge described today’s step towards euthanasia as “deeply disappointing.
“We join with the many medical professionals who say we should do all we can to protect Queenslanders rather than assist them in dying,” he said.
Archbishop Coleridge issued a full statement in which he said the focus on palliative care has been lost amid the haste to introduce euthanasia, while “serious questions remain about the consultation of Queensland’s First Nations people”.
“We say they should have a voice, and they are speaking on this, but the State Government hasn’t listened,” he said.
“This announcement also comes at a time when the State continues to discuss reducing our devastating suicide rate.
“That’s a difficult message to promote when the State Government is also paving the way for Queenslanders to take their own lives, with a law that says suicide is an acceptable option, with even a medico to assist.
“As with any new laws, there will be those who look to exploit them.
“The risk of elder abuse and the vulnerability of Queenslanders with disability will increase despite the promise of so-called ‘safeguards’.
“There will be exposure for aged-care and healthcare providers unless the legislation includes conscientious objector provisions for individuals and institutions.
“In some rural and remote parts of Queensland, faith-based organisations are the only providers of care for the elderly. They should not be forced into assisting in the deaths of their residents.
“We urge thorough and informed debate on the proposed legislation with all sectors of the community; and we hope there will eventually be a genuine conscience vote, with the consciences of the 93 parliamentarians properly formed.”
The VAD bill will be introduced into parliament next week and then referred to the Health and Safety Committee for a 12-week consultation.
“This longer consultation was requested by the Heads of Churches… lest there be any rush to pass the legislation through the parliament,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
Archbishop Coleridge said the Bill would return to the parliament in September and be debated for a week.
“She (the premier) stressed that there would be a genuine conscience vote for her side of the House, and she expressed the hope that the debate in the community generally would be respectful,” he said.
“I agreed and said that those who speak for the Catholic Church would be respectful, reasonable and resolute – for the sake of all Queenslanders and not in service of some out-dated ideology.”
The draft VAD bill together with a final report on the viability of voluntary assisted dying prepared by the Queensland Law Reform Commission can be accessed here.
Under the bill, people would only be eligible for euthanasia if they have either a disease, illness or medical condition that is advanced, progressive and will cause death.
Their condition would be expected to cause their death within 12 months and it must lead to suffering that is “intolerable”.
Legally, patients would have to be assessed to be acting voluntarily and without coercion, aged at least 18 and be a Queensland resident.
Patients seeking voluntary assisted dying would need to make three applications over a period of at least nine days.
Health practitioners would be required to tell applicants that they can change their mind at any point during the process.
A doctor would assess each application. This application would then be sent to a second doctor, and if an application was approved it would be sent back to the first doctor to proceed.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said medical practitioners would not be able to recommend euthanasia and would be allowed to be conscientious objectors under the proposed laws.
“So that, importantly, the individual themselves still gets to access that option, but respecting individual medical practitioners and entities may be conscientious objectors,” she said.
Victoria is the only Australian state in which a process for voluntary assisted dying is active, but Western Australia and Tasmania have passed their own laws.
South Australia is also a step closer to having a voluntary assisted dying regime after the state’s upper house recently passed legislation.””
