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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (22 November) . . Page.. 2252 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

qualified to provide that assistance and must be taken without any duress. Again, this is what the Bill provides for. This Bill, like the Labor Party policy that it mirrors, seeks to make practical and legal provision for people for whom, in their judgment, death is the only means of alleviating severe pain and protecting those who assist them.

Mr Speaker, I would like to address some of the objections to the Bill which have been put to me in conversation and in correspondence on this issue. Many people have expressed their abhorrence towards euthanasia in any form. Indeed, I have to say that the level of community awareness of the Act already passed by this Assembly seems to be very low. These writers make no distinction between the withholding of treatment, the provision of pain relief to the point where it will probably be fatal and the provision of assistance for the purpose of ending a life. They apparently object equally to all courses of action. Of course, I support their right to hold such a view, but I consider this to be an extreme view, to be inhumane and to deny all of us any rights as patients to choose the level of care provided to us in a terminal illness. On the figures which are available, this is very much a minority view in our community. The majority of people - indeed, the overwhelming majority - appear to be in favour of euthanasia in some form.

I have received very few statements of opposition to the precise terms of the Bill which is before us today. Most statements that I have received of this nature - and there have been very few - have been in the form of conversations rather than written submissions, and many have been conversations with elderly people who are concerned, as Mr Osborne has canvassed at length, that they will be done away with against their will and as an alternative to their receiving full and proper medical and personal care. These concerns, I believe, are very understandable, given that many older people in our society feel ignored, undervalued and vulnerable. I know that the ACT Council on the Ageing, amongst others, has been trying very hard to project more positive images of ageing and to empower elderly people. However, there remains a great deal to be done in this regard. I would also like to thank COTA for their contribution to the debate on euthanasia. In producing their issues paper and adding substantially to the community debate, they have continued to play, as they always have played, a very important and effective role. It would be easy for us to dismiss the fears expressed by elderly people as groundless and to assure them that, if their worst fears were realised, that would be murder and would be prosecuted as such. That, of course, is scarcely a comfort to them.

The fact, Mr Speaker, as in so many other areas of life, is that we must all rely at some stage on other people to ensure that our wishes are carried out. This is the case in, for example, a contract for the supply of goods or services, in employment, in property matters, in banking and in legal matters such as wills and so on, just as it is in the supply of medical treatment overall. We generally assume, and we have every right to assume, that when we have expressed our wishes clearly, and paid for them if appropriate, those wishes will be adhered to by the other parties concerned. The very point of the Bill we are considering is that it can be brought into effect only at the express wish of the person who has a terminal illness. Even an existing power of attorney cannot be used to make this decision on behalf of another person. In my view, Mr Speaker, there are sufficient checks and cooling-off periods in the legislation to ensure that no-one will be euthanased against their will or with any duress whatsoever. Similarly, no medical professional can be obliged under this legislation to assist anyone to terminate their life. Again, they participate only of their own volition.

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