The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed the New South Wales Parliament’s move to vote down a bill which would have legalised voluntary assisted dying.
Under the bill, which was introduced by Nationals MP Trevor Khan, terminally ill people aged 25 and over would have been able to end their lives with the help of doctors. MPs were given a conscience vote on the bill with the result that in the Upper House on Thursday night 19 voted in support of it and 20 against.
Kieran Jackson, NSW director of the ACL, said while it was “disappointing” more didn’t vote against the bill, he was pleased with the result.
“The Parliament has recognised that it is impossible to safely legislate to grant autonomy for the few, without creating danger to many other vulnerable individuals in society,” he said in a statement.
Mr Jackson added that it is “vital” the NSW Government ensure palliative care is “properly funded” to ensure that “the persistent push by euthansia advocates does not return”.
“It is not acceptable for doctor assisted suicide to become an alternative to providing people with a dignified death through modern palliative care,” he said, describing euthanasia as “an easy, cheap and dangerous way out of addressing palliative care funding while risking the lives of vulnerable people”.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Parliament’s Upper House was continuing to debate its own Government-backed voluntary assisted dying legislation on Friday morning in what has become a marathon session. That bill passed the Lower House last month.
