By Benjamin Preiss and Noel Towell
After four days, 141 proposed amendments and a gruelling 26-hour marathon sitting, historic voluntary euthanasia laws have passed Victoria's lower house.
A "proud" Premier Daniel Andrews says terminally ill Victorians are now closer to getting the dignity they deserve.
The proposed laws will now head to the upper house, where their fate rests with 40 MPs.
Should they pass, the laws will allow terminally ill Victorians with less than 12 months to live and who are suffering unbearable pain to access lethal medication.
Premier Daniel Andrews congratulates Health Minister Jill Hennessy after the vote.Credit: Justin McManus
Victoria will be the first state in Australia to offer an assisted dying regime if the legislation is passed by the upper house.
The assisted dying bill passed the lower house with 47 votes 'for' and 37 votes 'against' about 11.20am on Friday.
On the steps of Parliament, the Premier congratulated his colleagues for "taking a big step" for Victoria.
"My colleagues and I are very proud," he said.
Emotional lower house MPs after the bill passed.Credit: Justin McManus
"This is extraordinary. Public life is about getting the big and important things done."
Yet the Premier had "nothing to say" about a disparaging text message Health Minister Jill Hennessy inadvertently sent to Deputy Premier James Merlino.
Illustration: Matt Golding
A fierce opponent of euthanasia, Mr Merlino had proposed an amendment during the long debate that would have killed off the bill. Ms Hennessy called her colleague a "c---" in a text message sent to him by mistake on Thursday night.
Mr Andrews described Mr Merlino as a dear friend whom he respected.
"As for the minister for health, I couldn't be more proud of her," he said.
Exhausted MPs sat through a testing session as opponents moved dozens of amendments in an effort to delay the passage of the bill.
Intense debate over the divisive bill began at 9.30am on Thursday. It continued throughout the night, pausing only for two short 30-minute breaks.
Liberal member for Box Hill, Robert Clark, spent hours poring line by line over the 160 clauses in the legislation.
The Greens reckoned that Clark, ably supported by his Coalition colleagues Murray Thompson and Graham Watt were filibustering the night away.
By 10am on Friday, everyone on Spring Street was wondering when Mr Clark might finally close his eyes, or at least stop talking.
MPs yawned their way through the final hours, fatigue on every face, as the house battled through 141 amendments, none of which succeeded.
Shortly before the vote, Ms Hennessy thanked her parliamentary colleagues and paid tribute to the "indefatigable" Mr Clark.
There was a short applause in the chamber once the vote was counted, and some MPs wiped tears from their eyes.
Colleagues milled around Ms Hennessy congratulating her for her work guiding the legislation through the lower house.
Transport minister Jacinta Allan, who supported the bill, said the vote sent a "strong message" to the state's 40 upper house MPs.
She said she maintained a strong, respectful relationship with Mr Merlino, despite tensions about his opposition to the bill.
"He took his own personal principled view on this legislation," she said. "It was well known from the outset ... and [his] position deserves respect."
Euthanasia advocate and director of Go Gentle Australia, Andrew Denton, watched the entire debate from the public gallery. The TV personality, who has been diagnosed with advanced heart disease, embraced supporters after the vote.
Speaker Colin Brooks issued a final plea to MPs to "think carefully" about how they travelled home, with many country representatives facing a long drive back to their electorates.
The proposed laws
The bill states that terminally ill people with less than 12 months to live and who are suffering unbearable pain will be able to request lethal medication.
It is still yet to be decided what drug or drugs would be used, as traditional euthanasia drugs such as Nembutal are banned for human use in Australia.
The Andrews government has approached Monash University's pharmacy department to research what type of legal drug mixtures could be developed if the legislation passes.
When Nembutal was banned by the European Union for exportation to the United States because of the drug's use in capital punishment, an alternative mixture using morphine and an epilepsy drug was developed.
The drug question would be fully examined by an implementation panel over 18 months, if the laws pass.
with Aisha Dow