Historic voluntary euthanasia bill passes NSW parliament

Voluntary euthanasia is now allowed in NSW after the bill passed in both houses of parliament— but assisted dying won’t be available to access straight away. Find out the details here.

Euthanasia is now legal in NSW but it will be another 18 months before people can access assisted dying.

The bill passed both the Upper and Lower House on Thursday after working through more than 100 amendments on Wednesday night.

The bill passed with 23-15 with opponent Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope saying it was a “dark day” for the state because the bill “betrayed not only the generation of people currently approaching end of life but the generations of the future”.

Chief co-sponsor of the bill Independent Alex Greenwich said NSW had “finally passed a threshold of honesty and compassion”.

Bill co-sponsor and Labor MLC Adam Searle thanked euthanasia advocates for their tireless campaigning on the issue.

MPs during the debate of ammendments to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill overnight. Picture: Dan Himbrechts

“I want to acknowledge the suffering of those who died waiting for this compassionate measure,” he said.

“Opponents of this bill have said this about the killing of innocent persons…We are motivated by love, by respect, by compassion and because we think ultimately these choices should be for the person concerned as well as their families in light of all of the information they should have given to them.

“It reflects an enhanced respect for life... Let’s make this law.”

Vocal opponent and fellow Labor MLC Greg Donnelly frequently coughed during Mr Searle’s speech which he called out as a “very rude interruption”.

The Upper House debated the bill until midnight last night but was unable to reach a conclusion until this morning after the final amendments were worked through.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP Robert Borsak introduced a technical amendment on the reporting of euthanasia with Mr Borsak saying his proposal was better than those introduced by Nationals MP and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell.

Independent Alex Greenwich with euthanasia advocates. Picture: Dylan Coker

Mr Borsak’s amendment was rejected.

Ms Mitchell’s amendment called on data on the funding of palliative care every year for the next five years and on every person who accessed palliative care in and out of hospital.

Almost all of the 100 amendments proposed to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill have been dealt with.

Technical amendments from Education Minister Sarah Mitchell were accepted and one from Labor MLC Greg Donelly was also accepted.

Mr Donelly is the most vocal political opponent of the law and called for changes including barring all mentally impaired people from having access to euthanasia.

The bill will now have to be endorsed in the Lower House before it can be passed.

NSW is the last Australian state to legalise voluntary assisted dying and the debate has indicated that opponents will attempt to delay the bill with Labor MLC Greg Donnelly speaking at length about an amendment to prevent mentally impaired people from having access to euthanasia.

“Our law in NSW, our criminal law, currently as it stands in this state … focuses very clearly, very sharply, to in effect flag, and through that flagging protects people who otherwise have a mental health condition to be in effect protected … we don’t want a person who has that condition to get themselves in harm’s way,” he said.

Labor MLC Greg Donnelly is opposed to the bill. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

“This bill should do nothing less than to reflect that societal desire to reflect those individuals as human beings but seek to ensure that they don’t go down a particular path, which is a life ending path.”

“Acknowledging that a mental health impairment such as bipolar disorder or profound depression, it actually doesn’t need to be profound, it can just be depression, can impact a person’s judgment.”
Mr Searle said amendments to change the definition of decision making capacity was “dangerous”.

“There are many conditions people could be considered unable to communicate clearly, particularly those who have a terminal illness or condition,” he said.

He said “having a mental illness does not mean” a person does not have the capacity to make life choices.

“We do not think there is a problem that needs amending in this part of the bill.”

Mr Searle also opposed an amendment seeking to remove a presumption that a person has capacity for decision making unless proven otherwise.

Nationals MP and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said her party “collectively” largely supported the bill but moved their own amendments.

Other proposed amendments include banning access to euthanasia in faith-based aged care centres.

The bill passed the lower house last year in November by 52 votes.