Residents who support voluntary assisted dying (VAD) are being urged to add their names to a new petition calling on the State Government to move swiftly to enact VAD legislation.
Concerned that the Premier is showing little urgency on the issue, the Nurses Supporting Voluntary Assisted Dying and Voluntary Assisted Life Ending (VALE) groups have taken action to establish an e-petition to the Queensland parliament asking the gernment to commit to a bill being tabled, debated and legislated before next year’s state election.
Nurses Supporting Voluntary Assisted Dying spokeswoman and Sunrise Beach registered nurse Fiona Jacobs is worried that the issue will be put on the backburner after the parliamentary health committee’s end-of-life choices inquiry delivers recommendations later this year.
“The Premier has said she believes Queenslanders have to ‘at least talk about’ voluntary assisted dying. The current Queensland ‘end of life’ inquiry has received over 5,500 submissions telling harrowing stories of people suffering at the end of their lives and of the ongoing trauma experienced by families for years afterward,” Fiona said.
“So many Queenslanders are fighting hard to achieve legislation for voluntary assisted dying. We’d like all of them to support this petition.”
The Queensland Parliamentary Health Committee will deliver its “Recommendations” into End of Life Choices in November and Parliament will go into recess soon after for the Christmas/summer break.
The e-petition can be accessed at www.parliament.qld.gov.au/…/petit…/petition-details…and closes on 13 October.
