The next Politics in the Pub event will be held at Duttons Tavern in Gosford on Thursday, July 3.
The topic for this event is: `Should Medically Assisted Dying be Legalised?’ NSW Director Australian Christian Lobby, David Hutt and State convenor and Lead Upper House candidate for the 2015 election for the Voluntary Euthanasia Party, Shayne Higson are the two guest speakers for the event. “This will be a special evening, discussing a topic that evokes a range of emotions and responses,” said event coordinator Mr Rendall Wagner.
The Northern Territory is the only State or Territory where legislation has been adopted allowing physicians to practice voluntary euthanasia. In 1995 the Northern Territory Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was adopted. The following year it was overturned when the Federal House of Representatives adopted Kevin Andrews’ Euthanasia Laws Bill by 88 votes to 35. In 1997 the Bill was passed in the Senate, ending legal assisted suicide in Australia.
Five terminally ill people died in the Northern Territory between the years 1996-97 using the provisions of the Northern Territory law. Since 1997, voluntary euthanasia legislation has been introduced into every State Parliament, but all have failed. In 2012, a Bill introduced into the South Australian parliament was defeated by only two votes in a conscience vote. In the NSW Legislative Council in May 2013, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill was defeated.
In Tasmania in October 2013, a Bill moved by the then Labour Premier Lara Giddings and Greens leader Nick McKim, was defeated by only two votes in a conscious vote, with all 10 Liberal members of Parliament voting against the Bill. “At Gosford Politics in the Pub, we like to try and solve problems of the world over a friendly pint or a bite to eat,” said Mr Wagner.
Email 23 Jun 2014
Rendall Wagner,
Politics in the Pub