‘Angry ambo’ Harper fears VAD is under threat under LNP

Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper has blasted any attempt to overturn the state’s Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws, calling it a “b**tard act” that would undo years of progress for regional Queenslanders.

Member for Thuringowa Aaron Harper emotively fires up over any risk of Voluntary Assisted Dying being overturned in the next term, and he believes this was possible through a review that was built into the bill when it was passed in 2021. Picture: Evan Morgan

Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper has angrily criticised any risk of overturning Voluntary Assisted Dying Laws as a “b--stard act” that would undo years of hard and emotional progress for regional Queenslanders.

He said the avoidance of LNP leader David Crisafulli to directly address his position on the issue, and the intentions of One Nation and Katters Australian Party to circle back to a private bill, were strong indicators they had plans to overturn voluntary assisted dying if they had the majority number in parliament.

And there was a way to do it through a review which was added into the initial legislation when it was passed in 2021, with the Minister needing to review its effectiveness and the eligibility criteria and to bring a report back to parliament after three years.

LNP leader David Crisafulli said overturning VAD was “not part of our plan”.

But Mr Harper believed it was on the LNP leader’s radar considering he raised a question alongside Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates about a complaint, and corresponding investigation, about voluntary assisted dying at an estimates hearing in July.

Queensland LNP leader David Crisafulli during a press conference at Metricon stadium emphasising his four policy platform. Although health was a factor, VAD was not his focus. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Mr Harper was the “angry ambo” motivated by regional health outcomes when he first stepped into state politics in 2015, but later chaired the committee that developed the VAD bill which he said had consumed him for three years.

He claimed he cried on aeroplanes travelling to parliament and hearings across the state as he read through 5000 submissions related to the bill, which expressed the experiences of dying Queenslanders and their families who could not decide for themselves to end their lives.

“And then we had 40 public hearings around the state, and Katter didn’t turn up to the one out at Mount Isa, I remember that, people told their stories out there,” Mr Harper said.

Retiree Frank Senica, 82, chats to Chair of the Health Committee and Member for Thuringowa, Aaron Harper MP at GECC following the Gladstone public hearing for the inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care, and voluntary assisted dying.

“Katters are saying they’re utilising it out west because they can’t get the same level of care, well what an absolute load of rubbish.

“People in those remote, particularly in regional, Queensland … some of the ones we had in western Queensland, they told us they didn’t want to leave their communities, they didn’t want to leave their loved ones.

“They wanted to stay in their community surrounded by their loved ones and not be shipped off to a tertiary hospital to die.

KAP leader Robbie Katter opposes voluntary assisted dying but said it would not be a priority that he would be driving in the new term. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I think the Katters are going to come undone and the LNP on this, and One Nation.

“There’s one thing I’ve learnt out of all this … is that Queenslanders don’t like governments telling them what to do with their bodies.

Broadcaster Andrew Denton, founding director of charity Go Gentle Australia, submitted a letter to the editor saying that Mr Harper was right to be concerned about VAD’s future under an LNP dominated parliament.

“More than 1000 terminally ill Queenslanders have died peacefully and compassionately since VAD became legal 18 months ago,” Mr Denton said.

“That’s 1000 dying people who had a choice not to suffer.

“It would be a tragedy if that choice were now to be denied because of the hard-line beliefs of a few.”

Katters Australian Party leader, Traeger MP Robbie Katter, said “of course” he would like to see the VAD bill repealed.

“Yes, of course, at the risk of exploding it up like the abortion thing, how can I not say yes to that?” Mr Katter said.

“It’s part of our values and we don’t just sit there twiddling our thumbs in parliament waiting for a vote to come up on things.

“But, I’ll qualify that by saying it’s not our priority going into the next term, it’s one of a full suite of family issues that we consider.”