By Dominique Tassell
State MPs are being urged to vote in support of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 when it is debated in the Queensland Parliament this September, with data showing the majority of the community are in support of it.
Member for Southern Downs, James Lister, has stated he will not be supporting the bill. His statement is included in full in the paper, which you can find in a digital edition on our website.
New data shows that voters in the eight state seats in and around Toowoomba and the Darling Downs backed the proposed law reform, including a majority of LNP voters and churchgoers.
My Life My Choice coalition released a statement calling for MPs to vote with their communities views in mind.
The Clem Jones Trust together with Dying With Dignity Queensland (DWDQ), Doctors for Assisted Dying Choice, and Everald Compton’s Christians for Voluntary Assisted Dying Queensland comprise the My Life My Choice coalition.
David Muir, chair of the Clem Jones Trust, said an analysis commissioned by DWDQ of data generated by the ABC Vote Compass survey for the May 2019 federal election found overwhelming community support for VAD.
“This is not a surprise to anyone who has followed the debate on voluntary assisted dying,” Mr Muir said. “Reputable market research has for many years indicated community support for VAD at 70 per cent to 80 per cent and research undertaken for the Clem Jones Group showed support for VAD laws from people of faith including 60 per cent of practising Catholics.
“The ABC Vote Compass data reflects the depth of the positive community sentiment towards voluntary assisted dying, and it is something every state MP needs to acknowledge.
“In simple terms, MPS will have a conscience vote on the VAD Bill in September, but they should exercise it in favour of the Bill because only then can they put the decision of whether to choose VAD in the hands of their constituents,” Mr Muir said.
THE ABC Vote Compass in May 2019 asked people if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “Terminally ill patients should be able to end their own lives with medical assistance.“
The results for the Southern Downs seat show that 21 per cent of respondents chose ‘agree’ while 58 per cent of respondents chose ‘strongly agree’, meaning a total of 79 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement.
The proportion of Liberal National Party voters who agree that “Terminally ill patients should be able to end their own lives with medical assistance“ was also high at 74 per cent of respondents in the Southern Downs seat.
Mr Muir said the proportion of people identifying as holding a religious faith who also supported VAD ranged between 55 per cent and 85 per cent depending on the specific denomination.
“These are all strong results in favour of VAD bult on statistically significant samples of voters in each seat,” Mr Muir said.
Dr Sid Finnigan, state convenor of Doctors for Assisted Dying Choice, said last Friday’s report by the parliamentary Health Committee on the VAD Bill drafted by the expert and independent Queensland Law Reform Commission showed the Bill should be passed without amendment.
“The Committee report showed that the Bill is workable and safe, and contains adequate protections and safeguards, and should be passed without amendments to enable individual Queenslanders to make their own choices about VAD if and when they needed to do so,” Dr Finnigan said.
“MPs should not be diverted by the baseless arguments raised in minority dissenting reports that were spun around claims that have been comprehensively dismissed by previous parliamentary inquiries in Victoria, Western Australian, and here in Queensland as well as by on-the-ground experience in overseas jurisdictions.
“The evidence is what MPs should concern themselves with, not urban myths or wild scare tactics.
“If MPs look at the evidence they will vote for the VAD Bill and to give their constituents the choice of a better end of life if they need to access VAD,” Dr Finnigan said.
Jeanette Wiley of Dying With Dignity Queensland and a former palliative care nurse, said the VAD debate was not about MPs but their constituents.
“All of our 93 state MPs need to recognise that under a VAD law there will not be a single extra death, but there will be a lot less suffering and that voluntary assisted dying is exactly that – voluntary – so those who may never want access to VAD are accommodated 100% but opponents should not deny choice to others.
“The Bill contains adequate safeguards and those wanting to make amendment after amendment to the Bill are just wanting to make the Bill unworkable.“
Ms Wiley said it was unfortunate that dissenting members of the Health Committee had used discredited arguments such as claims about VAD sparking “suicide contagion” that had been comprehensively proved wrong by previous inquiries and experience with VAD scheme in practice.
“The Health Committee report also confirmed that voluntary assisted dying was not a rival to palliative care but was an extra choice that competent adults with a terminal illness or neurological condition could make for themselves if needed.
“Evidence from palliative care practitioners to multiple inquiries has also shown that palliative care does not alleviate all end-of-life suffering which is why MPs must vote for the VAD Bill,” she said.
A response to some common misconceptions surrounding the Bill will be in our next paper, out on Thursday.
