Victorian legislation on voluntary assisted dying … Bundle of safeguards to appease opponents … How the religious right holds back the popular will … Tight conscience vote expected … Earning “Action Points” from Father Lyle and the ACL … Madeline White reports from the front line
The procedure will involve a lethal dose of medication, self-administered, unless the person is physically unable to administer it themselves.
The Bill implements the framework for voluntary assisted dying envisaged by the government’s ministerial advisory panel, headed by former Australian Medical Association president Prof Brian Owler.
Announcing the panel’s 66 recommendations last Friday, Prof Owler billed the regime as “the most conservative in the world”.
Dr Phillip Nitschke, head of Exit Australia, is one of many euthanasia advocates criticising the narrow law. He told the media:
“The idea of having to wait to be sick enough to comply with the requirements and then having to ask for permission doesn’t fit with the growing sentiment of most elderly Australians. There’s going to be so many people who simply won’t be able to comply with these rigorous prerequisites.”
The government itself describes it as “the safest and most conservative model in the world,” and perhaps it has to be to have any chance of becoming law.
The anti-euthanasia lobby has fought laws like this for decades – since the last (briefly) successful law in the Northern Territory in 1997, more than 40 legislative attempts have been killed off. Politicians understand that only the narrowest legislation will survive the powerful lobbying effort.
That lobbying effort is well underway. Last month Right to Life Australia brought out anti-euthanasia advocate Prof William Toffler to tour the country.
Toffler is from Oregon, the first US state to legalise voluntary assisted dying, 20 years ago. He says it was a mistake, leading to “new fear and secrecy, and a fixation on death”.
Toffler spoke all around Australia, including in Premier Daniel Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave. He also had a private audience with several state MPs, but Prof Owler has questioned the efficacy of this move, saying:
“Bringing out personalities from overseas who try and scare people … I mean parliamentarians are not silly.”
Right to Life Australia has now begun another phase of the “attack campaign” – a leafleting program targeting marginal Victorian seats. It has vowed not to “write off any MP as impossible to shift on the issue”.
Right to Life Australia are aided in their campaign by the Australian Christian Lobby, headed by Lyle Shelton. Shelton is known for his vitriolic opposition to marriage equality, Safe Schools and LGBTIQ rights generally. He sees slippery slopes everywhere.
Shelton is taking the ACL’s advocacy into the 21st century with a smartphone app that encourages Christians to earn “Action Points” and unlock “Activist Badges” when they complete campaign activities like letterboxing.
Another key player is HOPE Australia, a coalition of anti-euthanasia bodies, run by Catholic Paul Russell in South Australia. Russell is focussing his efforts on Victoria, undertaking polling that has been picked up by the Murdoch press.
The Australian reported that “49 per cent of respondents did not want the proposed legislation to be rushed”. The polling was undertaken in May, before the “proposed legislation” was proposed. Despite questionable survey framing, these polls have a powerful impact on debate once amplified by a hungry press.
The public debate may be quieter than it was in the Territory in 1997. Prof Owler’s successor in the AMA presidency, Dr Michael Gannon, has indicated that while the AMA officially remains opposed to voluntary assisted dying, it will not be campaigning on the issue in Victoria.
The AMA represents 30 percent of physicians and is seen as a conservative organisation. The AMA’s opposition was instrumental to the defeat of the NT law and its absence from the Victorian debate is expected to make a difference.
It remains to be seen whether the narrow framework will be enacted into law, despite overwhelming public support. In one of many opinion pieces, euthanasia advocate Andrew Denton pointed out “polls consistently show about 75 percent of the general community support the proposition that terminally ill patients should have the choice to legally end their own lives with medical assistance”.
But public support does not necessarily translate to votes on the parliament floor. The Bill will be put to a conscience vote and already MPs are signalling their opposition.
Deputy Premier James Merlino is against the proposed Bill, telling the Herald Sun of his “deep concerns that these laws put at risk some of our most vulnerable Victorians, who could be subjected to coercion”. Opposition leader Matthew Guy is opposed, as are many of his colleagues.
“Since this is being put forward by the government, the opposition are very likely to have a view within the party that they don’t want the government to succeed and get kudos in any way, shape or form.”
The vote is expected to be very tight. If it passes, Victorians can anticipate access to the legislative regime by mid 2019, but not within every health facility.
St Vincents Health Australia has already ruled out implementing the voluntary assisted suicide regime in its hospitals, health centres or clinics. As Victoria’s largest provider of palliative care, St Vincent’s decision is significant, and other health providers may follow.
The country will be watching as the Bill is introduced next month. Recent legislative defeats in Tasmania and South Australia aside, there is appetite for change elsewhere.
Dr Gannon refers to a “widely held view” that once voluntary assisted dying is introduced in one jurisdiction, it is more likely that others will follow. A slippery slope, of sorts.
Vic Health on the proposed voluntary assisted dying legislation