By Dominique Tassell
Queensland Parliament has passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill.
Under the bill, patients who are suffering intolerably from a terminal illness with less than 12 months to live, who have obtained more than one medical opinion, are over the age of 18, and have the capacity to make the decision may undertake voluntary assisted dying.
Member for Southern Downs, James Lister, spoke in parliament against the bill and voted against it.
He stated he was surprised by the amount of people writing to him asking him to vote against the bill, because he “sincerely believes it is an overwhelming majority of the community who do wish to see voluntary assisted dying introduced”.
He had previously stated he did not believe the majority of the region was in support of the bill.
Mr Lister stated that while the community may be in support of voluntary assisted dying, he believed there are “significant flaws” with the bill.
“I do not wish to see people suffer and I certainly do not wish to see people’s choice taken away from them,” he stated.
He raised concerns about palliative care, and whether Queenslanders living in regional areas had adequate access to it.
He had previously supported an unsuccessful motion by Katter’s Australia Party to delay voting on the bill until after the Palaszczuk Labor Government committed to an additional $275 million per year of funding for palliative care in Queensland.
The Palaszczuk Government previously announced they would commit an addition $171 million over the next four years to palliative care services across the state.
Mr Lister stated that he believed a lack of access to quality palliative care may cause people to consider voluntary assisted dying due to a lack of options.
Mr Lister then raised concerns about protections for institutions who conscientiously object to voluntary assisted dying.
Under the new legislation, institutions who conscientiously object to voluntary assisted dying must transport patients requesting it to a facility that does not object.
If this is not possible, they must allow outside medical practitioners to enter their facility and undertake it.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles has previously stated that “in some situations, requiring an individual to leave their home and transfer to a different hospice, when they’re close to death and in great pain, would subject them to pain and distress or deny them access to voluntary assisted dying“.
While it was raised by other members of parliament that those living in cities may be able to choose more carefully where they are admitted, it has also been raised that many living in more rural or regional areas do not have the same choice and thus may end up in a facility that does not support their choices.
Mr Lister stated that he believed that any legislative measures to mitigate the risk of people meeting the criteria of the bill being subtly pressured into accessing it could not be 100 per cent effective.
“I think the vulnerable are entitled to protection and I understand and I respect the points that are being made by members in the house today that people ought to have a choice, they ought to have autonomy over themselves,” he stated.
“That is true, however if the price of granting that autonomy risks other people I don’t think that the case has been met.”
Mr Lister criticised the Labor Party for not making any of the amendments suggested during the debate, stating he thought they were taking a “take-it-or-leave-it” approach.
