Oct 20, 2017

Assisted Dying Bill Passes in Victoria’s Lower House

Voluntary assisted dying is now one step closer to becoming a reality in Victoria, after the bill was passed by in the lower house.

After a 24 hour meeting – where MPs had a debate overnight that ran well into Friday morning – the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill passed 47 votes to 37, after a conscience vote.

The decision came just after 11am on Friday, with the sitting over the bill beginning on Thursday at 9.30am.

The marathon meeting went throughout the night and MPs only took two short 30-minute breaks during the whole session.

“My colleagues and I are very proud,” Premier Daniel Andrews said on the steps of Parliament.

“We have taken a very big step towards giving many, many Victorians the dignity and compassion they have been denied for far too long,” he said.

“This is extraordinary and public life is about getting the big and important things done and this is big and it’s very, very important.”

Those in support of the bill included the majority of Labor MPs two Greens, two independents and a small number of Coalition MPs.

However, this isn’t the end of the line for Assisted Dying laws, as the bill now has to be passed by the 40-member Upper House.

It is expected that this will occur in a fortnight.

“We still have a way to go,” said Andrews.

“I don’t take anything for granted there … but this is needed and the time has come to write this into law”.

Should the laws pass, Victoria would be the first state in Australia to offer an assisted dying regime.

It would mean that those who are suffering from “a serious and incurable condition and at the end of their life” will be allowed to seek voluntary euthanasia. However, the law won’t come into effect until 2019.

It is also required that the person is over 18 years of age, a Victorian resident and an Australian citizen.

Only those with decision-making capacity and are at the end stages of their life are qualified for assisted death.

9069714-3x2-940x627

Previously against assisted dying, Andrews views changed following the death of his own father after a long battle with cancer.

Andrews told Fairfax media that he hoped “that this debate is conducted in the spirit of respect. My own conscience tells me that this is the change that needs to be made.”

Health Minister Jill Hennessy is also supporting the bill, with her own personal family tragedy shaping her views – her mother’s life long battle with multiple sclerosis.

Andrews praised Hennessy for championing the bill, while other colleagues congratulated Hennessy for her work guiding the legislation through the lower house.

Euthanasia advocate Andrew Denton was among members of the public in Parliament to watch the vote.

What do you have to say? Comment, share and like below.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Western Australia makes voluntary assisted dying legal

  Western Australia has become the second state in Australia to make voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legal, after passing historic new laws in parliament on Tuesday. The heavily amended Bill makes Western Australia only the 19th jurisdiction in the world to support assisted dying. “The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 has cleared its final hurdle... Read More

An Agenda for Change in the Aged Care Industry

HelloCare Exclusive – This is the final article in a series of 4. Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce will deliver its findings in a report to the Minister for Aged Care, the Hon Ken Wyatt, this week. The strategy includes pragmatic actions to better support the workforce... Read More

“My nana has become racist – how can I prevent her from being rude to her carer?”

When a 90-year-old woman refused to be showered by her carer, her embarrassed family asked what they can do to get her bathed, and how they should tackle her emerging racist views. Read More
Advertisement