Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let us never forget those among us who face challenges every minute of every day that we cannot possibly even imagine—people who have reached a stage in their lives where continuing to live day to day presents challenges beyond their capability and even makes end of life a blessing and an outcome they seek. One of those people is David Bedford, who recently wrote to me. I know you're watching this, David.

Describing David's situation is best done by quoting him directly. David says: 'I would like Annastacia Palaszczuk to please consider legalising euthanasia for all Queenslanders. I am a 38-year-old incomplete quadriplegic who has been in pain for the past 18 years. In 2002 I crashed my car driving home from work as a chef at Pier Restaurant in Sydney, sustaining a closed head injury and a neck injury at C2. The ambulance drivers who were first on scene that night gave me a Glasgow Coma Scale reading of 3. This scale rates a patient's level of consciousness. It goes from 1 to 15, with 1 being dead on arrival to 2 being dead soon after arrival and 3 being if they are within 15 minutes of a hospital. They would get rushed there all the way up to 15, which is fully awake and conscious. I was rated 3 and was 14 minutes from St Vincent's Hospital. I wish I had died that night, and if I had an advance health directive in place, I would have. It, the advance health directive, would have instructed the doctors to turn off the life support machine, saving me from 18 years of pain. I would have been remembered for who I was and not who I have been turned into.

Whilst in a coma on life support, I got a severe bedsore as big as a grapefruit on my tailbone and one on each of my heels that ate away all the way down to the bone. Although they've now healed, the scars cause me excruciating pain as there are lots of severed nerve endings that I have no choice but to lie on 24 hours a day. Because I only fractured my spine and bruised my spinal cord, I still have full feeling in all of my body, unlike complete quadriplegics, who can't feel anything below their level of injury. Six years ago I got so desperate to end my pain that I wrote an advance health directive and tried to starve myself, but the nurses turned me away from the hospital, stating that Australia doesn't support euthanasia. I have thought of many ways in which I could end my life, but, unfortunately, a lot of those ways involve being assisted by another person, which would burden that person with legal ramifications for their actions. This is why I think Queensland must legalise euthanasia: because desperate people do desperate things.

Until recently, I wasn't concerned about Australia's euthanasia laws, because I had an option to go to Switzerland, which allows tourists to utilise their euthanasia programs. However, with the onset of COVID, it has taken away my options. I'm in no hurry to end my life as I have grown accustomed to tolerating pain. Knowing Dignitas was an option for me gave me great comfort, but, without knowing how long these lockdowns will be in place, I am much more likely to go to Switzerland as soon as flights open again. You could prevent this by legalising euthanasia, not only for the terminally ill but for anyone suffering in pain.

Please don't model your euthanasia law on Victoria's law, as it has been described as the most conservative euthanasia law of all the countries that have legalised it. There's no reason to limit it to people in the last six months of their lives dying of a terminal illness unless it is just to be cruel. I know I'm not the only person suffering in pain like this, and giving people painkilling drugs does not always eliminate their pain. I am given multiple medications on a daily basis to try and alleviate my pain. Unfortunately, after 18 years of taking these medications, I have built up a tolerance and now find those painkillers ineffective. Even with those pain medications, I feel like I have a knife stabbing into my tailbone. I have extra medications that I can request when pain increases, but I can only have that every 12 hours and its effectiveness is questionable. I asked my doctor to increase the strength of my pain relief, but he said that would put me at risk of having a heart attack. I said I'm okay with that risk and would sign a letter absolving him of any responsibility, but he said that would go against his Hippocratic oath to do no harm. Shouldn't I have the right to not be living in pain? I have the full support of my mother, who said, if she ever found out she had cancer, she would help me end my life. Shouldn't the state have responsibility to legalise euthanasia and not leave it up to my mum getting cancer? We are living in the 21st century after all.

'To conclude,' said David, 'if you take just one thing away from this speech, consider completing an advanced health directive of your own so, if you're ever in a coma, it would give your doctor direct instructions of your wishes.' (Time expired)