David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

In wrapping up the second reading debate on my Restoring Territory Rights (Assisted Suicide Legislation) Bill 2015, I wish to thank each senator for their contribution. We haven't had such a demonstration of individual honesty since the debate on same-sex marriage. In fact, I think this exceeds that debate. On the crossbench, we each form our own view about bills every day. But I understand this is a fairly novel experience for many in the major parties. I would particularly like to thank Labor and my crossbench colleagues for helping me bring this bill on for debate after it became clear that the Prime Minister was reluctant to stick to his deal with me. I have listened to as many of the speeches as possible, mostly while in my office, and I have been very impressed by the honesty and sincerity of my colleagues, if not necessarily all of their arguments. I know that the debate has been influential, with some senators changing how they were leaning in response to the contributions of other senators. That's good.

Now that I have the floor, I hope the debate continues to be influential, because I'd like to dispel some myths and misrepresentations that have been repeated during the debate. We've heard that we don't need assisted suicide legislation as long as we improve palliative care resources. In fact, palliative care is not an alternative to assisted suicide. You can have both. Indeed, in my opinion, you should have both. But what we haven't heard is how the best palliative care is ineffective for one in 20 patients with a terminal illness. Those Australians die a slow death in agony, and we are unable to help them.

We've heard how a nine-year-old girl was killed in Belgium, under the laws there. I'm personally not in favour of extending assisted suicide to children. But no mention was made when that subject was raised of the laborious processes taken to confirm consent. No mention was made of the untreatable brain tumour that, according to unanimous medical opinion, was to cause death in the near term, and no mention was made of the excruciating, untreatable pain.

We've heard a lot about slippery slopes but no mention of how the loose European laws have always been loose and how the tight law in Oregon has hardly changed over two decades—so, no slippery slope. We've heard how doctors can't be trusted but there has been no mention of how doctors deal, right now, with dying patients in an unregulated environment. Assisted suicide laws that require crystal clear consent can actually save lives from doctors who think they know best. There are many overdoses of morphine given with absolutely no consent. We've even heard claims that assisted suicide laws would reduce the willingness of Indigenous Australians to attend hospital, for fear of being killed against their wishes. This is insane. The only thing that could make any Australians fearful of being killed against their wishes is irresponsible and baseless fearmongering, unrelated to any law that could be legislated in Australia.

We will have an opportunity to further explore these issues in the committee stage, provided we pass this bill at the second reading. So I implore all senators: please question the fearmongering you have heard. Please ask yourself whether this fearmongering is coming from a source that knows what they are talking about, and please ask yourself what the basis of the fearmongering is, when this bill does not legislate for assisted suicide and the only legislation in Australia that does is the very tight legislation of the state of Victoria. But, contrary to what many have said, this bill is not about assisted suicide. It is about the freedom of the elected parliaments of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory to legislate on assisted suicide.

In 1995 the Northern Territory parliament adopted the world's first assisted suicide legislation. Four people took advantage of it to end their lives. However, in late 1996, with the debate extending into 1997, Mr Kevin Andrews introduced a bill into the Commonwealth parliament to overturn that legislation and to prevent the territories from legislating on assisted suicide. Twenty-one years later, that bill remains on the books, and yet, during that time, 14 jurisdictions have legalised assisted suicide in one form or another. Victoria is one of them. Other states, including WA, South Australia and New South Wales, have debated bills to legalise it and voted against it. However, the elected parliaments of the ACT and the Northern Territory can't do that. Big Brother, otherwise known as the Commonwealth government, doesn't allow it.

Surveys repeatedly show that between 75 per cent and 85 per cent of the public supports assisted suicide, including in the territories. It's the social issue with the most clear-cut public support. It's been that way for decades too, as this week's Australian newspaper confirmed. If this parliament were genuinely representative of the people, this bill wouldn't be necessary. The fact that we don't have assisted suicide in this country exposes a serious flaw in our democracy. It reminds me of the old joke about when the parliament and the people disagree with each other: some people believe we should change the people because the government can't be wrong.

I'm confident that there is majority support in this chamber for this modest bill and even greater support for the bill to at least reach the committee stage following the second reading. But I would like the support to be as strong as possible to reflect how this truly is a modest and reasonable bill. The time has come for this parliament to respect voters in the Northern Territory and the ACT. We in this parliament were all elected, but so were the members of the parliaments of the ACT and the Northern Territory. We are no smarter or more insightful than they are. We should not be denying them the ability to make decisions about a matter that their equivalents in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, New South Wales and Western Australia can make. Whether we like the decisions those elected politicians make is not our concern. We can't decide whether assisted suicide should be permitted in the states, so what gives us the right to decide for those who are not in one of the states? I say we shouldn't make that decision. We should leave it to the people who were elected to represent them. I commend the bill to the chamber.