At just after 11 am today, Friday 20 October, Victoria's Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill was passed in the Victorian Lower House by a conscience vote of 47 to 37. Debate began at 9.30 am on Thursday and continued throughout the night, pausing only for two short 30-minute...
Press Release by The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners 20 October 2017 The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has welcomed the passing of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill in the lower house of Victorian parliament this morning after comprehensive and contemporary discussion about the...
A new independent nationwide poll released today has found that 73% of Australians support voluntary assisted dying. The poll was conducted by Essential Research from 10 to 14 August 2017 and 1,000 respondants were asked: “If someone with a terminal illness who is experiencing unrelievable suffering asks...
Press Release by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) - Thursday 19 October 2017 Nurses union calls on Victorian Parliament to vote for voluntary assisted dying law Voluntary assisted dying law will give terminally ill patients more access to palliative care options, further specialised review...
Professor Julian Savulescu (pictured, Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics and Law, Melbourne University, University of Oxford) provided a piece for The Conversation 'Sex versus death: why marriage equality provokes more heated debate than assisted dying' 18 October 2017, which includes the following interesting observations: "One major...
A NSW ReachTEL poll commissioned by Fairfax media, found that 69 per cent of NSW voters support a law that would give the terminally ill the right to end their lives with a doctor's assistance. The poll was conducted on 5 October and results are based...
Profesor Brian Owler, Neurosurgeon and the immediate past federal president of the Australian Medical Association, gave the address to the National Press Club on 12 October 2017. He spoke about voluntary assisted dying and, more specifically, the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (2017). Amongst other things, Profesor...
"VAD [voluntary assisted dying] is not part of palliative care as it is currently practiced in Australia...
Professor Rufus Clarke (pictured), from Doctors Supporting Assisted Dying Choice, refutes claims made by the current Australian Medical Profession (AMA) President, Dr Michael Gannon in a recent article in the Huffington Post. Professor Clarke's article included the following: "As doctors we are committed to the wellbeing of...
Today three judges in the UK High Court ruled against Noel Conway's application to enable doctors to help him to end his own life. Noel was too weak to attend the court in person for the hearing or for today's decision, but said "As I approach...
"As a clinician, I firmly believe that people have the right to choose how they live, which includes having choices about how they die...
On 20 September, the NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, tweeted the following "Personally, I will vote against. I oppose the state sanctioning the taking of human life. Opposed to capital punishment & euthanasia". Apparently, Foley's comment was retweeted by several senior Catholic figures, including the Bishop...