FEBRUARY 2014 in THIS ISSUE, in Brief
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FEBRUARY 2014 We wish all our members and supporters all the best for 2014 - and yet another chance for voluntary assisted dying legislation to be passed! Our first issue for 2014 is the State election, to be held on 15 March, and we would greatly appreciate your help. After the results are known we’ll be in a better position to plan our activities for the year, including the campaign for another voluntary assisted dying Bill which we expect to be introduced into Parliament during the year. Our activities in relation to end-of-life planning will continue through the year. IN THIS ISSUE, in brief: COMING EVENTS: Sunday 2 March, from 12.00 noon, BBQ at Waterworks Reserve. Members and friends are welcome. See details below. RSVP essential by Wed 26 February. First Committee meeting - 12 February, 2.00 pm at the Glenorchy Library. Members are very welcome. STATE ELECTION: Please use your vote to support candidates in favour of voluntary assisted dying law reform. One of the features of the Tasmanian Hare-Clark voting system is that people can vote for their preferred Party but have a choice between candidates within that Party. Please help to gather information on candidates’ views so that we can let voters know to take them into account before they vote. See more information below. THE VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING BILL 2013: As you know, despite our considerable work and best efforts, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2013 was defeated by only one vote before there was a full and open debate on the detailed sections of the Bill. All 10 Liberal MPs voted against it along with 3 of the 10 Labor MPs with their justifications almost solely a regurgitation of the fear-mongering propaganda of the tiny minority who oppose such legislation. We include details of how MPs voted and a report on the debate. PRESIDENT’S REPORT: A summary of events and activities since the last general report with special thanks again to those who supported us so magnificently in the campaign for the VAD Bill. NEWS FROM AROUND AUSTRALIA AND OVERSEAS COMING EVENTS We welcome all members and friends to join us for our BBQ on Sunday 2 March from noon, at the Waterworks Reserve. Celebrate with us the progress we made towards voluntary assisted dying legislation and talk about the way ahead to build on that progress. Please let us know by 26 February if you intend to come and if you would like a lift. You can do this by contacting a member of the Committee, through the contact form on the website or by leaving a message on the DwDTas number, 0450 545 167. If there is insufficient interest or it looks as if the weather is going to be bad, we may cancel the event. In 2014, we will continue with Committee meetings on the second Wednesday of each month, at 2pm at the Glenorchy Library. First one is 12 February. Members are very welcome to come along and join in the discussion. However, we recommend that you check beforehand to ensure the meeting is going ahead. Sometimes we have to postpone is there are too many Committee members who are away. STATE ELECTION: Please use your vote to support candidates in favour of voluntary assisted dying law reform. One of the features of the Tasmanian Hare-Clark voting system is that people can vote for their preferred Party but have a choice between candidates within that Party. The State election will be held on Saturday 15 March and there will be a very large field of candidates in all electorates. We will aim to gather as much information as possible by the Wednesday before the election so you can take it into account before you vote and also encourage your family and friends to do the same. We will be able to email those who receive receive the newsletter by email but may not be able to do a full mailout of a hard copy report. If you would like the information, please leave your name and a message on the DwDTas phone that you want the information. We can then ensure you get it. We would greatly appreciate your help to gather information on candidates’ views by letting us know any information you become aware of. It will be virtually impossible for us to survey all candidates’ views. There will be a large number of candidates, many will not respond to questionnaires and follow-up can be time-consuming. If you are doorknocked or contacted by candidates, ask them for their views on the general issue of voluntary euthanasia and on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2013. If you can, please contact candidates and ask their views, as well as telling them why you support voluntary assisted dying legislation. Ask them to contact Dying with Dignity Tasmania to get factual, good quality information and not be hoodwinked by the fear-mongering propaganda of those opposed to the legislation. A good source of contact details for candidates can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/news/tas-election-2014/guide/candindex/ . 2 The report below gives information on the views of existing MPs, of whom all but two, Graeme Sturges and Michael Polley (both Labor) are standing again. We expect that all Greens candidates will be supportive of voluntary assisted dying legislation but have still to confirm this. In Denison, we believe that Labor candidates Sharon Carnes and Alphonse Mulumba are supportive. Independent Liberal candidate, Hans Willink may also be in favour. When he was a candidate for Queenborough in the 2013 Legislative Council election he advised that he was in favour in principle with voluntary assisted dying legislation. We will confirm with him that is still the case. In Lyons, of the new candidates, we know that David Llewellyn (Labor, standing in Lyons) strongly opposed the 2009 Dying with Dignity Bill and Guy Barnett (Liberal, Lyons) is a strong opponent of all the proposed social reform legislation. THE VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING BILL 2013: This is a relatively brief report about the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2013, which was debated in the Tasmanian House of Assembly on 16 and 17 October 2013. The vote on 17 October showed that, of the 25 members of Parliament (MPs) in the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 12 supported the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2013 and 13 opposed it. If a single Liberal MP had voted for it, it would have passed through to a full and open debate on the detailed sections of the Bill. They wouldn’t even allow that to happen. What was so disturbing was not the votes against the Bill but the justifications used in their speeches which consisted almost entirely of the fear-mongering propaganda of the tiny minority of the population who are opposed to the legislation. Because the vote on the Bill was an individual ‘conscience vote’, each MP chose the case they were going to put, independent of Party policy. They must each accept full responsibility for the material they chose to use and the extent to which that was false, misleading or inadequate. They demonstrated little or no respect for the views of the vast majority of the population (or for reputable survey organisations), for the views and stories sent to them by many people or for any of the excellent, reputable research studies that have found that such legislation is safe and responsible. They quoted only a very few doctors opposed to the Bill but none of the many in favour, only the Law Society but not the many legal experts in favour, only academics that are well-known opponents. The speeches failed to meet the most basic standards expected of our MPs in the use of inaccurate, cherry-picked and inadequate data and claims that they knew or ought reasonably to know were false and misleading. They presented themselves as the protectors of “the vulnerable” while providing no explanation of why they believed that Tasmanian doctors would threaten the vulnerable. There was a great focus on how wonderful palliative care can be - and we agree - but no acknowledgement of the terrible situation faced by those for whom palliative care cannot help. We are doing a detailed analysis as part of follow-up activities to build on what has been achieved (eg challenging the accuracy of data used by individual MPs; more information papers, etc) and in the planning for the next time a Bill is debated. This may well be before the end of 2014. 3 The vote The vote was 13-11 against the Bill because Deputy Speaker, Tim Morris, a supporter of the Bill was forced to stay in the Speaker’s Chair by the deliberate late arrival into the House of the Speaker, Michael Polley, who voted against it. MPs who voted for the Bill: Franklin: The Premier, Lara Giddings (Labor) and Nick McKim (Greens) who jointly moved the Bill and made passionate speeches in support; David O’Byrne (Labor) Denison: Scott Bacon and Graeme Sturges (Labor) and Cassy O’Connor (Greens) Lyons: Rebecca White (Labor). It is important to note that Tim Morris (Greens) also supported the Bill but Bass: Michelle O’Byrne (Labor), Kim Booth (Greens) Braddon: Bryan Green (Labor), Paul O’Halloran (Greens). MPs who voted against the Bill, all Liberal except where for the three Labor MPs: Franklin: Will Hodgman, Leader of the Liberal Opposition; Jacquie Petrusma Denison: Elise Archer and Matthew Groom Lyons: Rene Hidding, Mark Shelton, Michael Polley (Labor) Bass: Peter Gutwein, Michael Ferguson, Brian Wightman (Labor) Braddon: Jeremy Rockliff, Adam Brooks, Brenton Best (Labor).