THE EUTHANASIA DEBATE

FOR

The State has no authority over the right of people to make their own individual choice regarding ending their life. Any such attempt at legislation is moot, because it is unenforceable after the event anyway. Civil Liberties Australia – WA branch

A civilised, compassionate country such as ours should have the courage to retrieve the issue of voluntary euthanasia/dying with dignity from the ‘too-hard’ basket. Philip Nitschke

A recurring interaction I have with so many pet owners is the clearly stated desire that they hope they will have this same peaceful and gentle exit from the world that their pets enjoy. They have all refl ected sadly that with our current laws their pets look forward to a far more humane end than we humans are allowed. Gary Beilby

Our beloved pets are not allowed to suff er, are not left lying in their own filth until someone can ‘get to you’, which is the current situation in many nursing homes … Some people fi nd that point upsetting, I do not. Carol Wren

To continue to use medical and social resources to prolong a life against the wish of the suff erer and their family is at best primitive, at worst cruel, and from a detached point of view needless use of resources which could be better spent helping people who can recover. Rachel Dockery

There is a need for laws in Western Australia to allow citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own end-of-life choices. It is the position of MNDAWA that it is time for robust and considered discussion about the individual’s right to self-determination and also their right to access appropriate medications, at a time of their choosing, to end their suffering with dignity and in a way that is acceptable to each individual who has the disease, respecting their culture, religious faith and personal preference. Motor Neurone Disease Association of Western Australia executive offi cer Brendan Parker

AGAINST

The old are made to feel unwanted, and in families where they are not loved and valued they are pushed into a sense of despair that leads them not to value their own existence. Such a society is nothing less than inhuman, devoid of love. Daniel Regnard

Any proposed law that would allow this is counter to the principles for inclusion in a charter of medicine, as expressed by the judges at the Nuremberg trials who condemned doctors and their assistants of killing millions of innocent people under a nazi law, and who were convicted of crimes against humanity. Right to Life Association president Peter O’Meara

Australia removed capital punishment decades ago; it was decided that government and judicial systems do not have the right to take life and yet the proposal of this committee is to do that very thing, in opposition to conscience, duty of care and professional capacity of civil government and its department. Margaret Court

In the current parlous condition of State fi nances, to legislate for ‘assisted dying’ without guaranteeing funding for equal access to palliative care risks being interpreted by some voters as driven principally by fi nancial concerns. We call upon Parliament to put people first, reject any form of ‘assisted dying’ and guarantee better access to palliative care for all. Catholic Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe

In other jurisdictions that have framed euthanasia laws, there has generally been a range of criteria to try to draw the line between “humane” killing and unlawful killing. Having spent 24 years in the State Parliament I am very well aware that all legislation has unforeseen consequences. The most strident present example is the planned advantage to the State of Western Australia of introducing a goods and services tax. Former Labor MP John Kobelke