Susan Carter’s heartless bill was defeated by 23 -16 votes
With the amazing help of our members and supporters, the attempt by religious groups and MPs to restrict access to voluntary assisted dying (VAD) has failed.
A majority of MPs refused to let aged care providers prioritise their religious ideology over the end-of-life rights of residents in their care.
The final result was 23 votes to 16.
Hopefully this is a sufficiently decisive margin to make VAD opponents think twice before they make another attack on our VAD laws.
We are so relieved and very grateful to our members and supporters for flooding the inboxes of the entire Upper House with almost 5,000 messages opposing the Bill and expressing anger and disappointment that such a Bill had even been proposed.
How the MPs voted and the full Hansard record of debate.
We thank all the MPs who voted against the Bill. Our particular thanks to Dr Amanda Cohn from the Greens and Jeremy Buckingham from the Legalise Cannabis Party who gave us such fantastic support throughout the process and used their relationships across political divides to help build the numbers to defeat the Bill.
We’ve collated all the MP’s contributions to the debate for those who want to see how the legislative sausage is made - Read all speeches here. Content warning: it’s not pretty. The speeches from Susan Carter and her co-sponsors were difficult to listen to. Fortunately other MPs fought hard against the Bill and it was heartening to hear their contributions.
It was a group effort
We are very grateful that key groups representing seniors and healthcare workers were vehemently opposed to the Bill and actively engage in lobbying. This includes the Seniors Rights Service, Older Persons Advocacy Network, COTA NSW and the Older Womens Network along with the NSW Branches of the Nurses and Midwives Federation, Australian Paramedics Association and the RACGP. Read their joint statement here.
We also had the support of Dr John Ward, a geriatrician and current NSW Senior Australian of the Year and a Legal Opinion from senior counsel confirming that the Bill is invalid because it would give aged care providers rights which conflict with their obligations under the new federal aged care laws to respect and address residents’ end-of-life choices - read more here.
Despite political chaos in both federal and NSW Parliaments we managed to get some very helpful media coverage including the wonderful OpEd in the Sydney Morning Herald by our longstanding VAD advocate, 86 year old Jill Nash - read here. And once again the letters pages of the SMH were filled with contributions from DWD members and supporters.
Religious groups lobbied hard - see what they had to say
Lobbying for the Bill was spearheaded by Catholic Archbishops and the Australian Christian Lobby which pulled together a joint statement of faith leaders. They appeared to believe that forcing dying residents from their homes in aged care to access a legal medical treatment is reasonable and necessary to protect the religious freedoms of others.
- Joint Statement from Faith Leaders
- Letter to MPs from Catholic Archbishop of Sydney
- Media Release - Australian Christian Lobby
You will be pleased to hear that not all religious groups supported this Bill. The Uniting Church in particular spoke out against it and the 70 nursing homes operated by Uniting Care in NSW will continue to support their residents’ access to VAD.
Some background about the Bill
The effect of the Bill was to overturn provisions in our hard-fought VAD laws which require aged care facilities to allow residents to access VAD on-site. This would have allowed religious aged care providers to prevent residents from accessing VAD in their homes. It required dying residents to be transferred out of their homes for medical assessments, and ultimately die in unfamiliar surroundings, cared for by strangers.
Transferring a vulnerable dying person could cause them serious harm, prevent or delay their access to VAD and prolong their suffering. In regional and remote areas, transfer to another facility may simply have been impossible.
This Bill was heartless and unfair and would have undermined the right of elderly residents to access legally available medical care - a right protected under our federal aged care laws.
What lies ahead?
Protecting VAD in Aged Care nationally - The efforts in NSW to restrict VAD in aged care have put us on notice that religious groups are intent on putting ‘religious freedom’ ahead of their obligations to residents in other states and territories. We will be working with seniors groups and other DWD organisations to ensure that the aged care sector understands that the new federal aged care laws require providers to allow access to VAD in facilities across the country.
Legislative Review of VAD Act - After the first two years the VAD Act requires a review of its operation and a report to Parliament by the end of 2026. The process is about to begin and we are already considering our submissions. Rest assured that we will be raising the issue of obstruction by religious institutions and pockets of conscientious objection which are making it more difficult for people to access VAD. We will be seeking input and stories over coming months.