Euthanasia Laws Backed by Tasmanian Premier and Leader of Greens

Euthanasia in Australia is perhaps on its way towards noteworthy development within the legislature with Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings and Leader of the Tasmanian Greens Nick Mckim proposing a framework for ‘voluntary assisted dying.’ The discussion paper at the centre of the proposal will be introduced into Tasmanian Parliament in 2013 after the necessary comments have been collected.

There have been many other attempts to introduce a euthanasia bill across the states in recent month, including South Australia and New South Wales. But the Tasmanian development, backed by the Premier and the leader of the Greens, may be the first to cross the line since the Northern Territory Act of 1996 (later repealed in 1997).

Over the years, persistent and strong public support for legalised euthanasia coupled with a better understanding of how such a regime could operate means that change will inevitably come. Throughout the Tasmanian proposal there has been a strong focus on carefully addressing concerns about safeguards against abuse of the law. Consequently, there is hope that this will be the first step to finally introducing voluntary assisted death laws into Australia.

However, the development has also been criticised by some groups including the Australian Christian Lobby. They draw upon the failed Northern Territory legislation as an example, commenting that “A report looking into the practical outworking of the legislation stated ‘four of the ‘seven deaths in Darwin’ revealed prominent features of depression, highlighting its strong role in decision-making by those seeking euthanasia. Alarmingly, these patients went untreated by a system preoccupied with meeting the requirements of the Act’s schedules rather than delivering competent medical care to depressed patients’,”.

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