James O’Doherty: Perrottet allows Liberals a conscience vote on euthanasia bill

The voluntary assisted dying bill has been described as ‘a poor indictment of society’ by the Premier — but he will allow MPs to vote on it as they choose.

Premier Dominic Perrottet told his Liberal MPs on Monday that they would be allowed to vote with their conscience on a private member’s bill to legalise Voluntary Assisted Dying, set to be introduced to parliament days later.

A conscience vote on such an issue should not be contentious for the Liberal Party, but the move marked a ­departure from his predecessor’s ­approach to the bill.

Hornsby grandfather Bruce Fox wants to be able to chose how and when he dies once his suffering becomes too much. Picture: David Swift

Alex Greenwich’s bill to legalise assisted dying — introduced to parliament yesterday — had been looming over Gladys Berejiklian’s head for months.

Perrottet’s conservative faction colleagues had been increasingly ­agitating internally and publicly in a bid to force Berejiklian to torpedo the legislation.

The matter was set to expose deep rifts in the Liberal Party, similar to when Tanya Davies and Kevin ­Connolly threatened to move to the crossbench during the abortion ­debate in 2019.

At the time, Liberals say, Berejik­lian promised MPs there would be no more conscience votes in the current term of parliament, in a bid to quell tensions.

Until her resignation, she was being pressured to uphold that promise, by telling Liberals to vote together against the Greenwich bill.

So if Berejiklian was still Premier today, she would have been stuck between a rock and a hard place — the Liberal tradition of a free vote and the threat of political instability she could hardly afford.

Premier Dominic Perrottet will allow Liberal Party MPs a conscience vote on the bill. Picture: Dominic Lorrimer

But Perrottet did not face the same predicament. In fact, he pre-empted the bill even coming before the parliament when he declared the conscience vote on Monday. (Usually, the major parties only discuss how to deal with private member’s bills after they are introduced).

The decision to staunchly back a free vote on assisted dying shows that Perrottet is trying to appeal to progressive voters who don’t share his views.

Perrottet will vote against the bill. On Thursday, he said he called for more to be done to provide “care and ­compassion” to people at the end of their life.

“What this comes down to is providing care and compassion to those people as their life comes to an end. In many ways it’s a poor indictment of society that many people feel they have to end their lives in this way,” he told reporters.

The bill would give people who are suffering from a terminal illness with six months to live (or 12 months in the case of a neurodegenerative illness) the ability to request access to a substance to assist their death.

NSW is the only state jurisdiction in Australia in which Voluntary ­Assisted Dying remains unlawful. (A Commonwealth law was passed in 1997 to prohibit Territories from legalising VAD, after it was briefly ­allowed in the Northern Territory.)

Discussion of the Greenwich bill will be emotionally charged, on both sides.

Introducing his bill on Thursday, Greenwich raised “heartbreaking” stories of terminally ill patients suffering through their final moments in awful ways.

He told parliament that in NSW, 20 per cent of suicides in people over 40 are associated with a terminal ­illness.

“A modern advanced healthcare system would not leave anyone to feel that their only options are between a slow, cruel agonising death and a ­violent and lonely suicide,” Greenwich said.

Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich introduced the bill to parliament on Thursday. Picture: Dominic Lorrimer

One of the main concerns held by opponents is that terminally ill ­patients will be pressured into ­assisted dying rather than staying in palliative care.

Advocates say strict safeguards are in place to ensure this does not ­happen.

The Daily Telegraph this week told the story of terminally ill ­Hornsby grandfather Bruce Fox, who called on politicians to let him “die with dignity”.

“I’m not concerned at all about death but I’m very concerned about the end part of the trip to get there,” the 71-year-old said.

The ongoing role of palliative care will be central to the debate.

Former Premier Mike Baird, whose mother died this year following a drawn-out battle with a terrible disease, is urging MPs to vote down the euthanasia bill.

“There is every opportunity to ­reduce the distress, and to enable everyone to live with as much dignity and as comfortably as possible, to their last days,” he said.

“I’ve seen first-hand someone I love dearly, in a terrible position physic­ally, but still able to connect and care in a way I can’t describe,” he said.

Mr Baird is now the CEO of aged care charity HammondCare, which provides its own palliative care ­services.

One thing both sides agree on is a hope that the debate will be calm, and measured. Perrottet made it clear to his MPs this week that they should treat everyone’s view with respect.

Recent opinion polls have suggested that voters in all NSW electorates support giving terminally ill people the choice to access assisted dying.

The final vote in parliament is ­likely to be tight, but at this stage the legislation looks like it could narrowly pass.

A previous bid to legalise assisted dying in 2017 failed in the upper house by just one vote. It is not without irony that Dom­inic Perrottet, a staunch Catholic from the Conservative wing of the Liberal Party, may end up being the Premier whose government legalises it.