Gold Coast MP David Crisafulli reveals he will vote against voluntary assisted dying despite residents’ support
Bulletin readers have reacted angrily after Gold Coast MP and LNP leader David Crisafulli revealed he will not be voting for voluntary assisted dying laws. WHAT DO YOU THINK? VOTE IN OUR POLL
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GOLD Coast MP David Crisafulli will vote against Queensland’s historic Voluntary Assisted Dying laws.
The Opposition Leader had refused to publicly declare his position for months before finally revealing it in Parliament on Tuesday.
The bill is expected to pass, with 43 MPs saying they would support the laws.
Mr Crisafulli said he could not support “flawed legislation”, asking why people would be able to access VAD before they qualified for palliative care.
“I believe this bill unintentionally, but unavoidably, puts a lesser value on the life of the poor, the remote, the sick,” he said.
“I believe the intention of the bill is to offer choice, but the reality is that it offers choice on a sliding scale that is in proportion to the size of your bank account or where you live.
“I can’t support something that offers the assistance of the state to terminate their life – the same state that does not give them the option of specialist palliative care in the same timeframe.
“I will not be supporting this Bill.”
The city’s only Labor MP, Gaven’s Meaghan Scanlon, said outside Parliament: “While I respect (Mr Crisafulli’s) right to vote against this Bill, that doesn’t mean that I’m not disappointed.
“For me this debate drills down to two questions. As elected representatives, what do our communities think and what does our conscience say?
“Poll after poll has shown the overwhelming majority of Gold Coasters support this reform.
“Like many in Parliament, I’ve been inundated with feedback from health staff, children, parents and friends who have watched someone they love suffer and endure those last days, weeks and months.
“I am not different.”
Ms Scanlon has been vocal of her support for VAD, having lost her father to melanoma as a teenager.
Mr Crisafulli’s decision also sparked a backlash among Bulletin readers.
“I have watched both my parent pass away from cancer and have had them asking for their pain and life to end,” one wrote.
“Very disappointed in your decision not to vote for the bill. I live in your electorate and want more options then my parents had. I find is hard to believe that your would have voted against it.”
Another man, who said he was at Gold Coast University Hospital with his gravely ill mother, also expressed his anger.
“I’m at the Gold Coast hospital right now ... watching my mother die a slow, agonising, confusing death begging for her life to end,” he wrote.
“I watched my father die a slow agonising death his body racked with cancer, twisted and pleading to be put out of his misery as the cancer dissolved his spine and bones. Eventually the cancer chewed up his brain. Until finally it robbed him of every last atom of dignity.
“People ultimately should have control over their own bodies and futures. Very disappointed. Mr David Crisafulli MP has lost my and my family’s vote.”
Debate continues in Parliament tomorrow.
80 PER CENT OF GOLD COAST RESIDENTS BACK VAD
MORE than 80 per cent of Gold Coast residents, including churchgoers and conservative LNP voters, are backing Labor’s push to introduce voluntary assisted dying laws in Queensland.
The Dying with Dignity Queensland data from surveying across all Coast electorates found residents agreed terminally ill patients “should be able to end their own lives with medical assistance”.
A senior Coast-based nurse on the eve of this week’s historic debate in state parliament says surveying by the Queensland Nurses Union produced the same results.
Chris Johnson, from Coomera, told the Bulletin: “Nursing has shown me we need assisted dying laws — and my colleagues agree.
“I have worked as a nurse and midwife for 41 years. I’ve had the privilege of bringing many new lives safely into the world, but it’s a deep regret of mine that I haven’t been able to provide the same support to my patients at the end of their lives.”
Mr Johnson said the reality was that, even with the best care, some pain at the end of life could not be managed and some suffering unable to be eased under existing laws.
“I saw this first-hand when working in America during the HIV-AIDS epidemic. My patients’ suffering was horrifying,” he said.
“It still haunts me to think of the terror in their eyes as they asked me, “Why? Why can’t you help me die?” I had no idea what to reply. Because it’s against the law? Because I will go to prison?
“Because the politicians aren’t here at your bedside to see you like this? Believe me, if they were, they would legalise assisted dying tomorrow.”
Dying With Dignity Queensland advocate Jeanette Wiley has called on MPs to listen to their constituents instead of their own beliefs.
“All of our 93 state MPs need to recognise under a VAD law there will not be a single extra death, but there will be a lot less suffering,” she said.
Retired MP Jann Stuckey said many LNP MPs on the Coast still “shied away” from the issue.
“It just goes to show they still live in the past where doctors play God and determine how terminally ill people should die, often slowly through terminal sedation,” she said.
Gaven Labor MP Meaghan Scanlon said the parliament’s health and environment committee has recommended the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill be passed.
“That means, this week we’ll see this Bill come before parliament for discussion. For many Gold Coasters and Queenslanders – myself included - this reform has been a long time coming,” she said.
“It will mean that terminally ill Queenslanders will have choice. I support this reform. I’ve made my position clear as have thousands of people in my community and across the state who have seen someone they love suffer.
“This is about compassion, and what will be before my fellow parliamentarians is a robust Bill to consider.
The results (with some figures rounded) for Gold Coast seats were:
• Bonney – 20% agree + 62% strongly agree = 82% total agree
• Broadwater – 21% agree + 61% strongly agree = 82% total agree
• Burleigh – 20% agree + 63% strongly agree = 83% total agree
• Coomera – 20% agree + 62% strongly agree = 82% total agree
• Currumbin – 23% agree + 59% strongly agree = 82% total agree
• Gaven – 18% agree + 65% strongly agree = 83% total agree
• Mermaid Beach – 20% agree + 63% strongly agree = 83% total agree
• Mudgeeraba – 24% agree + 57% strongly agree = 81% total agree
• Southport – 20% agree + 61% strongly agree = 81% total agree
• Surfers Paradise – 18% agree + 64% strongly agree = 81% total agree
• Theodore – 20% agree + 61% strongly agree = 81% total agree
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