The Bill
On 20 September 2017, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 was introduced into the Legislative Assembly of theIt is the Victorian parliament's job to do this, I'm not a supporter of euthanasia but I have been following the debate and it would be very interesting to see if their upper house passes it and what follows on from it. ... Federal law prevails over a state law but only in an area that both the Commonwealth and the state parliament have jurisdiction, so you've got to begin with an area where the federal parliament has jurisdiction.{{R, "TheAus2010"On 14 November 2017, the government agreed to a series of amendments designed to garner further support for the bill in the council. For terminally ill adults in severe pain and with only 12 months to live, the deadline to access lethal drugs was cut to six months, except for sufferers of neurodegenerative conditions such as
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Kathy Eagar, the executive director of the Australian Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration, and director of the Australian Health Services Research Institute at the University of Wollongong, has analysed the statistics surrounding euthanasia internationally, and says the law is limited. According to Eagar, the most important reason people choose euthanasia is that they don't want to lose their independence and autonomy. She believes euthanasia is a social issue and not a health issue, and maintains that less than one in five people choose euthanasia due to pain.{{R, "abcEagar" {{Blockquote, text=They've been very careful and very cautious in the approach, but a lot of the people who've been very strong advocates for euthanasia are not people with a life expectancy of less than 12 months. They are people living with debilitating conditions for many, many years and they won't be eligible for voluntary assisted dying under the legislation... "The conversation about, 'I am doing this because I want to make existential choices about the end of my life', that's a much harder conversation to have as a community, but it is the one we need."{{R, "abcEagar", source= Kathy Eagar Lorraine Baker, the Victorian President of theFirst use
Kerry Robertson was the first person to be granted a permit under the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act. Robertson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and was declared cancer free after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Four years later she developed a tumour in her in bones, that spread to her lungs and brain. When the cancer spread to her liver Robertson ceased treatment. Her palliative care team was unable to ease the pain. Robertson applied for the permit on the first day the act came into force, 19 June 2019, citing "loss of joy" as her reason. Robertson ended her life on 15 July 2019 at the age of 61 with her two daughters, and best friend by her side.{{R, FirstSee also
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euthanasia laws pass Victorian upper house, last=Preiss, first=Benjamin, date=22 November 2017, website=theage.com.au, access-date=6 December 2017, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205224121/http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/historic-euthanasia-laws-pass-victorian-upper-house-20171121-gzqc8n.html, archive-date=5 December 2017 {{cite web, url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/fact-check-do-assisted-dying-laws-lead-to-a-slippery-slope/9116640, title=Fact check: Has assisted dying been a legal slippery slope overseas?, date=21 November 2017, website=abc.net.au, access-date=6 December 2017, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206000119/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/fact-check-do-assisted-dying-laws-lead-to-a-slippery-slope/9116640, archive-date=6 December 2017 {{cite web, url=http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubPDocs.nsf/ee665e366dcb6cb0ca256da400837f6b/d162e1f2fcc3f7c3ca2581a1007a8903!OpenDocument, title=Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017, website=legislation.vic.gov.au, access-date=8 January 2017, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108102218/http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubPDocs.nsf/ee665e366dcb6cb0ca256da400837f6b/d162e1f2fcc3f7c3ca2581a1007a8903!OpenDocument, archive-date=8 January 2018 {{cite web, url=http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubStatbook.nsf/f932b66241ecf1b7ca256e92000e23be/B320E209775D253CCA2581ED00114C60/$FILE/17-061aa%20authorised.pdf, title=Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017, website=legislation.vic.gov.au, date=5 December 2017, access-date=8 June 2018, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180608103259/http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubStatbook.nsf/f932b66241ecf1b7ca256e92000e23be/B320E209775D253CCA2581ED00114C60/$FILE/17-061aa%20authorised.pdf, archive-date=8 June 2018 {{Cite web, url=http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/num_act/vada201761o2017348/s93.html, title=Voluntary Assisted dying Act 61/2017, Section 93 {{cite web, url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/she-left-with-courage-and-grace-daughters-farewell-victoria-s-first-person-to-access-assisted-dying-20190802-p52d97.html, title=She left with courage and grace': Daughters farewell Victoria's first person to access assisted dying, last=Cunningham, first=Melissa, website=theage.com.au, date=4 August 2019, access-date=4 August 2019, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804103924/https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/she-left-with-courage-and-grace-daughters-farewell-victoria-s-first-person-to-access-assisted-dying-20190802-p52d97.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true, archive-date=4 August 2019Further reading
*{{cite journal , author=Bartels L, Otlowski M , title=A right to die? Euthanasia and the law in Australia , journal=J Law Med , volume=17 , issue=4 , pages=532–55 , date=February 2010 , pmid=20329456