South Australia’s lower house votes decisively to progress voluntary assisted dying laws

SA MPs have overwhelmingly voted to send the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill to a final vote, after hours of debate and a public vigil of support.

South Australia is a step closer to introducing voluntary assisted dying laws, after the state’s lower house voted decisively to progress the legislation.

In a division held just after 11pm on Wednesday night, MPs supported the Bill 33-5 at its second reading.

The members who voted against it were Independent Sam Duluk, Liberals Vincent Tarzia and Adrian Pederick, and Labor members Michael Brown and Tom Koutsantonis.

The Bill will now proceed to the committee stage, when a number of proposed amendments will be discussed, before a third and final vote on the issue is expected to take place next month.

Prior to the vote, emotions ran high as MPs overwhelmingly voiced their support for the legislation.

A crowd gathers in support of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill just before the debate. Picture: Tom Huntley

Premier Steven Marshall, who was first to speak during the debate, said he would vote in support because he does not believe he can deny other South Australians their right to choice.

“I have considered the deep and sensitive moral, ethical, legal, medical and professional considerations associated with this question,” he said.

“But, it is also important to recognise that, with the passage of these laws, we will not be entering on the so-called slippery slope.

“An entirely voluntary choice will be the foundation of assisted dying under these laws; the right to choose a dignified death, to retain control of your life until its end.”

Several members shared deeply personal experiences with the house, including Giles MP Eddie Hughes.

Mr Hughes spoke about his father and younger brother, who both died from bowel cancer.

“There was a stark contrast between my brother’s final weeks and my dad’s,” he said.

Mr Hughes said his dad died in a curtained-off room shared by four others, where the disease robbed him of dignity and wracked his body with pain.

“That strong, loving, larger-than-life man was reduced to barely a living husk. What was the value in that prolonged ending?” he said.

“My brother’s death wasn’t a good death but it was a better death than my dad’s, apart from dying way too soon.”

However, he said his brother was “fully present” and could engage in conversation until the last day of his life.

“He was surrounded by people he loved, and the people that loved him,” he said.

“When the final stage came, he lost consciousness.”

Speaking in opposition, Member for Hammond, Mr Pederick, said he could not support “state-sanctioned killing”.

“For the value of human life, I won’t be supporting the bill but I’ll certainly be taking much interest in the committee stage when we get to that,” he said.

“I’m a firm believer that ... we should strengthen our palliative care so that we can get those good end-of-life options that people do require.”

Mr Duluk said he was concerned vulnerable people would not be adequately protected, while Mr Koutsantonis said the public was in conflict with the parliament on the issue.

Jane Qualmann in front of the Voluntary Assisted Dying vigil crowd. She is suffering a terminal condition and was a former nun, on May 26th, 2021, at Parliament House in Adelaide. Picture: Tom Huntley

A former nun and an Adelaide GP were among opposing crowds gathered at the doors of State Parliament on Wednesday voicing their support and concern over South Australia’s closest effort in 25 years to legalising euthanasia.

As 46 MPs prepared to debate the emotive Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Bill during its second reading on Wednesday night, a rally and a vigil were held at North Tce several hours apart in a bid to sway their votes

Jane Qualmann, 58, made the 400km trip from Mt Gambier to tell politicians that being religious and supporting voluntary assisted dying are not mutually exclusive.

“My faith is one of empathy, compassion and love, and I believe that God does not want me to suffer a horrendous painful death,” said the former Sister of St Joseph novitiate.

Ms Qualmann is in the final terminal stages of neurogenetic bowel syndrome. She lives 20 minutes from the border with Victoria, where VAD has been legal for 18 months.

“My death will not be dignified and will take weeks, not days,” she told 400 people at a Candles for Compassion vigil.

Well-known broadcaster and euthanasia advocate Andrew Denton, a speaker at the vigil organised by Voluntary Assisted Dying SA and Go Gentle, said: “The South Australian community isn’t looking for politicians to lead on this anymore – they are looking for them to follow their lead,” said Denton.

“The proof is in Victoria – this can be done and it should be done,” he said.

Earlier in the day, a Right To Life SA rally on the steps of Parliament House heard Adelaide GP Toni Turnbull lobby MPs against supporting VAD in SA.

“When I hear politicians talk of the traumatic, painful death of a friend or family member in the terminal phase of life, all I can say is: ‘they needed another doctor’,” said Dr Turnbull.

“In forty years of practice, it has always been possible to reduce a patient’s pain to a comfortable level,” she said.

Rose Luppino with Francis Evans and her children Liberty, 8, John, 10 and George, 11 at A Rally on the steps of Parliament House by those against the euthanasia bill, 26 May 2021. Picture Simon Cross

Joining her and about 20 others was palliative care nurse Francis Evans, 35, of North Adelaide, said “vulnerable” palliative care patients were anxious the Bill, if passed, would break down doctor-patient trust.

The SA Bill proposes access to assisted dying for people living in SA for at least a year, who are aged 18 or older and diagnosed with an incurable disease, illness or medical condition that is advanced, progressive and is expected to cause death within weeks or months.

Victorian legalised VAD 18 months ago, West Australian VAD laws will apply from July 1, a Tasmanian Bill passed last month and Queensland is this week introducing a Bill.

Labor MP Susan Close, Labor MLC Kyam Maher and Go Gentle founder and well known broadcaster Andrew Denton at Parliament House before the VAD candlelight vigil.