‘Be realistic’ to pass voluntary euthanasia law

Law reform chairman Peter Applegarth has urged the state’s newly returned Labor government to be ‘realistic’ about fast-tracking euthanasia legislation.

‘The commission’s task is not to consider whether there should be voluntary assisted dying legislation. Instead, it is to address the contents of the legislation’: Queensland Law Reform Commission chairman Peter Applegarth.

Queensland Law Reform Commission chairman Peter Applegarth has urged the state’s newly returned Labor government to be “realistic” about fast-tracking legislation that promises to be the tipping point for the rollout of voluntary euthanasia in Australia.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman would not say on Sunday whether a bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying would go before state parliament in February in line with an election commitment to advance the deadline for the QLRC to frame it.

Justice Applegarth, a sitting Supreme Court judge, revealed the agency was talking to Ms Fentiman about a “realistic time frame”.

Commission members would meet on Friday to review the program and “continue to consult the government about a realistic reporting date for this complex and important review,” he said.

Labor’s re-election with an increased majority last month guaranteed VAD legislation would pass the one-chamber parliament and make Queensland the third state after Victoria and Western Australia to legalise assisting dying for terminally ill people. The right to die is also on the agenda in Liberal-governed South Australia and Tasmania.

In a re-run of the process used to decriminalise abortion in Queensland in 2018, a parliamentary committee by majority decision signed off on a VAD law and referred to the QLRC a prototype bill prepared by former law reform commissioners Ben White and Lindy Willmott, both law professors at Queensland University of Technology.

Asked if the commission had the discretion to recommend against legislating, Justice Applegarth told The Australian: “As the terms of reference make clear, the commission is not asked to consider the desirability or otherwise of introducing voluntary assisted dying legislation in Queensland.

“The commission’s task is not to consider whether there should be voluntary assisted dying legislation. Instead, it is to address the contents of the legislation.”

Justice Applegarth said while the QLRC was required to take into account the White-Willmott model, it would also review the frameworks in Victoria and WA, public submissions that closed last Friday and “many other things” to devise a draft VAD bill.

Describing the task as complex, the judge said: “It is possible that some submissions will urge the commission to develop a different model to that proposed by White and Willmott or which exists in other states … it is not simply a matter of copying or adapting with minor variations legislation which exists in Victoria or Western Australia.”

The original reporting deadline of March 1 was brought forward by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk when she announced at Labor’s campaign launch on October 18 that legislation would be introduced next February if the government was returned.

But a date was conspicuously absent when Governor Paul de Jersey set out the government’s third-term priorities at the ceremonial opening of the new parliament last Wednesday; he said only that legislation implementing the QLRC’s draft bill on assisted dying would go before the House “in 2021”.

Ms Fentiman’s office would not be drawn on whether the timetable had slipped. In a statement, the Attorney-General said: “We have committed to providing the QLRC with additional resources so they are able to deliver the crucial review for an important piece of legislation, and we will continue to work with them to ensure they have the tools and resources required to complete the review.”

New Opposition Leader David Crisafulli confirmed at the weekend Liberal National Party MPs would have a conscience vote even though LNP policy was against assisted dying.