Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I'm proud to support this motion. The two most vulnerable moments of our lives are those in which we enter this world and those in which we leave it. When we are vulnerable, we rely on other people's care and kindness, and today I would like to acknowledge and thank the nurses, doctors, pharmacists and social workers who provide end-of-life care in this country.

Every state and territory in this country has passed laws permitting voluntary assisted dying. Voluntary assisted dying is the act of assuming control over one's inevitable and imminent death. It allows people who are suffering and dying to choose the manner and timing of their death. Suicide is the decision to take one's own life. They are not the same thing, and their conflation by this legislation is wrong.

The current legislation permits VAD, but it doesn't allow doctors and nurses to use telehealth to deliver VAD-related services. Healthcare professionals can't conduct reviews by phone. They can't check on symptoms, adjust medication doses or even email a script to a pharmacy. Best-practice care is generally face-to-face, and, in an ideal world, only a minority of VAD services would be provided by telehealth. But clinicians need that option so that they can provide adaptable, calibrated care.

Terminally ill people should not be required by outdated legislation to travel long distances for a 10-minute, in-person consultation or to pick up a prescription. Doctors and nurses should be supported in providing the very best care possible to dying patients. They shouldn't face prosecution for doing their job as well as they possibly can. Australia should not be a country in which people living in rural and regional settings receive worse end-of-life care than those living in the cities. This legislation has to be updated. In addition to the state Attorneys-General, doctors and patient support groups, there is broad community support for amending this law. The only thing standing in the way is the federal government. It's not this parliament's job to impede doctors and nurses caring for Australians in their final illnesses and in their deaths. I urge the government to let us debate and amend this bill in this House.

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