Victoria has just passed voluntary euthanasia laws

AN EPIC debate in the Victorian Parliament has resulted in the controversial euthanasia bill being a step closer to reality.

The bill will now be decided by 40 upper house MPs next month.

TERMINALLY ill patients are a step closer to being allowed to apply for a lethal medication — thanks to a historic day in Victoria’s Parliament.

Laws allowing voluntary assisted dying have passed the parliament’s lower house after a marathon debate between exhausted MPs, AAP reports.

After an all-night session in parliament discussing 140 amendments, the Labor government’s voluntary euthanasia bill passed on Friday morning and will now go to the upper house.

The proposed laws state terminally ill people with less than 12 months to live and who are suffering unbearable pain will be able to request lethal medication.

The final count was 47 votes in favour of the legislation proceeding to the upper house and 37 against.

“This is (already) occurring in our community, we can do better, we can do so much better, and today we have,” Premier Daniel Andrews said after the bill was passed.

MPs from the Labor, Liberal and National parties had a conscience vote, and many crossed the floor.

The Victorian Parliament debate lasted 25 hours.

Deputy Premier James Merlino led the Labor opposition to the proposed laws, which survived his attempt to kill them off on Wednesday.

Liberals Brian Paynter and Roma Britnell, and National MP Emma Kealy, were among those to vote in favour.

The proposed bill, which Premier Daniel Andrews has described as the most conservative scheme in the world, will now go to the upper house where it is expected to be another tight vote.

Mr Andrews said watching his father die slowly from cancer helped change his mind on assisted dying.

Members opposing the bill put up 141 amendments, none of which were supported, and the bill was eventually passed just before midday on Friday. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he has “reservations” about the model, but the federal government has no power to block Victoria’s decision on the issue. “It will obviously change the law in a very significant way,” Mr Turnbull told 3AW.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews praised today’s vote.

It comes after tensions flared in Victoria’s Labor government over the bill with accidental text message.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy called Deputy Premier James Merlino a “c**t” in a text message sent to him by mistake on Wednesday night, it has been confirmed by numerous parliamentary sources.

Mr Merlino, a fierce opponent to the Government’s bid to legalise a strictly monitored euthanasia scheme, had proposed an amendment which would have killed off the bill, long championed as a flagship policy by Labor.

The amendment was narrowly defeated and it’s understood Mr Merlino is angry about the text message from his colleague.

Former prime minister Paul Keating urged Victoria to abandon its euthanasia bill, describing it as “bald utopianism” that won’t protect the most vulnerable in society.

The federal Labor icon has described an upcoming state parliament vote on the bill as “a threshold moment for the country”, AAP reported.