The Western Australian Joint Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council has reportedly received more than 680 submissions.

President of Dying With Dignity WA, Murray Hindle (pictured), said “The parliamentary inquiry here has the great advantage of all the data that was gathered in Victoria, both for and against”.

Premier Mark McGowan said he expects the committee’s report in mid-2018 and that voluntary assisted dying in WA could come down to a conscience vote by elected MPs during 2018. In the wake of the successful passage of the Victorian voluntary assisted dying law, Mr McGowan said that it could serve as a ‘worthy template’ for Western Australia.

Click for ‘Premier backs end of life call‘ in The West Australian 9 January 2018

Click for ‘Euthanasia debate set to ramp up in WA‘ in The Western Independant 20 October 2017

A special Roy Morgan Snap SMS Survey was conducted on 2 November 2017 with a representative cross-section of 1,386 adult Australians. Respondents were asked: “If a hopelessly ill patient with no chance of recovering asks for a lethal dose, should a doctor be allowed to give a lethal dose, or not?” The result was 85% support for this proposition, with a clear majority in all six states. The state with the largest support is Western Australia, in which 88% of respondents support allowing doctors to ‘give a lethal dose’.

Click for ‘It’s Official: Australians support assisted dying or euthanasia‘ by Roy Morgan 10 November 2017

Click for a comprehensive submission by Neil Francis – Submission to WA Inquiry from DyingforChoice.com Oct 2017

For more background, click for our previous post ‘W.A Inquiry into assisted dying calls for public submissions‘ 25 September 2017