Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I've thought long and hard about this over many years. I don't want to give the impression that I'm being simplistic in what I say tonight, but dying with dignity and voluntary euthanasia decisions made to end life and end suffering are happening informally anyway, from my personal experience. My dearly beloved grandpa passed away a few years back. Sadly, I wasn't there that night, but my family were. A family discussion was had, medical staff were consulted and my grandfather was given a dose of morphine and sent on his way. Having spoken to many friends, I understand this is quite common.

Tonight, I want to very quickly tell a story about a friend of mine. Her mother was terminally ill and was suffering. They put an end-of-life plan in place. They lived on the North Coast of New South Wales. When their mother deemed the time was right, the family were going to convene at a coastal town. They knew the family doctor very well. All of them had known the family doctor, including the mother, and it was agreed that he would be there when the time was right and she would die with dignity under her own terms, with her family and loved ones there. As it turned out, when the time came, the doctor was away on leave and a locum was in town. When the mother said she was in pain and she wanted to go, they called the doctor and the locum said, 'She has to go to emergency.' He refused to administer a dose of morphine. Although the family tried to plead with the doctor, he said, 'No, it's against the law. She's going to emergency. She needs medical help.' They put her in an ambulance to take her to Brisbane emergency, some 45 minutes away, and she died in the ambulance, alone, on the way to the hospital. Her family were sitting in the lounge room when they got the phone call. They had planned this for months. That's what their mother wanted: to die with dignity. How many other stories do you need to hear about people who choose to end their life on their own terms?

So, while I understand that these things need to be carefully thought through and there need to be the right checks and balances, I believe—and it may sound simplistic—that this kind of thing is happening anyway and decisions are being made. It isn't actually official or regulated or legal, but it happens anyway. We probably will never get statistics on that, but certainly that's my experience. You may want to take a sample and ask the question: who should be making decisions about this? Of course, we are voting on this tonight, and they may very well vote on legislation in the Northern Territory. The people we should really be asking are those who are terminally ill and are in the situation where they may wish to die with dignity. None of us, I hope, in this chamber are in that situation. Some of us may be one day. They are the people we should be asking. I find it very difficult to sit in here and listen to people saying it's against their values and their beliefs. It's actually the people who are suffering who should be the ones making this decision, not us in here today, and we should provide the ability for them to do that.

On behalf of Senator Di Natale, I would like to indicate that we do not intend to move the amendments as circulated following any second reading vote. Those amendments were on sheet 8493.

I will conclude my contributions by saying I do support this legislation. I think it's critically important that we give every human being the right to go on their own terms and to die with dignity. We should accept that death is a fact of life and we should deal with it in a mature and open way.