Voluntary assisted dying 'overdue' in Tas
Voluntary assisted dying is well overdue in Tasmania, says an independent upper house member who has helped spearheaded a push to legalise the medical procedure.
Debate on the bill began in the Legislative Council on Tuesday afternoon, the fourth attempt to pass such legislation.
"For far too long terminally ill Tasmanians have been unable to legally end their suffering," Mike Gaffney, the bill's architect, said.
Mr Gaffney spoke of his mother's battle with intractable pain and loss of mobility in the final decade of her life.
She was allergic to all opioid pain relief and took her own life in 2002, he said.
"This led to two years of prosecution and ultimate conviction of my brother for an offence against the criminal code ... any person who instigates or aids another to kill themselves is guilty of a crime," he said.
"The definition of aid is so loose any one of the family could have been accused."
An e-petition in support of the bill with some 13,000 signatures - the largest in Tasmania's history - was tabled in parliament last month.
If the legislation gets passed by the 15-member upper house, it will still need to given the green light by the lower house in a conscience vote.
Senior Liberal government minister Michael Ferguson said this week the proposed law "encourages suicide" and was too complex and difficult to understand.
Mr Gaffney said he had reviewed voluntary assisted dying laws in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada.
"This legislation is well overdue and capable of being enacted with the strictest oversights," he said.
According to the bill, people eligible for voluntary assisted dying must be over 18 and have an advanced and incurable disease, illness or injury expected to cause death.
Several doctors must be consulted and patients must twice pass an eligibility test.
Labor supports voluntary assisted dying in principle, while the Greens back the latest bill.
The Australian Medical Association has objected to the legislation, labelling it "physician-assisted suicide".
Victoria became the first Australian state to pass voluntary assisted dying legislation in 2017, while in December Western Australia followed suit in approving laws.
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