Euthanasia laws passed in Victoria’s upper house

Victoria is on track to having the country’s first euthanasia program in more than 20 years after the bill was passed in the upper house.

Victorian MPs are expected to arrive at a final decision on the state’s euthanasia plan today. Picture: Getty Images.

Victoria is on track to having the country’s first euthanasia program in more than 20 years after upper house MPs voted this afternoon in favour of the Voluntary Assisted Dying bill at the end of a marathon debate.

Victorian upper house MPs passed the Andrews government’s euthanasia plan at around 4:10 on Wednesday afternoon with 22 votes to 18 after an exhaustive sitting beginning at 12:30pm on Tuesday.

The bill passed with the support of four Liberal MPs including frontbenchers Mary Wooldridge and Ed O’Donohue, Legislative Council President Bruce Atkinson and regional MP Simon Ramsay.

Independent MP James Purcell also voted in support of the bill along with five Greens MPs and Reason Party leader Fiona Patten.

Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings called the passage of the bill a momentous occasion that would stand as a seminal moment in the state’s history.

“Despite the fact that we had some difficulties when we first commenced ... even though we had monumental divisions between us, as confronting as it may have been we actually had a productive working relationship today,” Mr Jennings said.

“This is a momentous day ... people will remember this day for a reason ... many people have fought with determination, compassion for many years on this.”

The will now proceed back to the lower house where amendments will be debated and passed, because the government still controls the balance of power.

The vote came at the end of eight days of debate, including two all-night sittings with one that ended when an MP was rushed to hospital with a medical emergency.

Visibly emotional government MPs including Jaala Pulford, Jaclyn Symes, Cesar Melhem all embraced in the wake of the vote, which occurred in front of a packed public gallery where pro-euthanasia advocates including Andrew Denton, Dr Sally Cockburn sat alongside pro-life campaigners including Australian Christian Lobby Victorian chief executive Dan Flynn.

The vote came at the end of eight days of debate, including two all-night sittings with one that ended when an MP was rushed to hospital with a medical emergency.

The scheme, which is expected to come into play by 2019 will grant terminally ill patients of sound mind and a life expectancy of less than six months the ability to choose when they die.

The government has not yet released details on the lethal formula that will be given to patients, but has drafted the plan in which the drugs will be issued to patients in a locked box to which only they have the key.

Many of the plans details including the drug route will be left to an 18-month implementation panel which will oversee training of doctors and practitioners involved in the program, in addition to which drugs will be used, and how patients will take them.

The architects of the scheme have billed the plan as the most conservative model in the world, with the majority of cases who apply to use the scheme having to self-administer, except in extreme cases such as oesophageal cancer.

Patients will need to confirm three times that they want to take part in the scheme, and will require consent from two separate doctors in the presence of witnesses.

New amendments debate within the upper house committee phase have also inserted more stringent psychiatric checks to make sure patients accessing the scheme aren’t doing so out of depression or another mental illness.

Under the plan, a terminally ill patient could issue their first request to access the scheme and could be given the drugs to take within 11 days of their first request.