Bills

Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill

Final Stages

Consideration in committee of the Legislative Council's message No. 115.

Dr CLOSE: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments be agreed to.

I will just speak very briefly. These amendments are sensible and in fact consistent with the lengthy and very high-quality debate that we had in this chamber a couple of weeks ago. They reflect the intention, I think, of people in acknowledging that, when someone is living in their own home, be that run by an organisation such as an aged-care facility and, in this amendment's case, a retirement village, that person has the right to have access to lawfully available medical interventions and medical advice.

The amendments that we passed here a couple of weeks ago referred only to facilities under the Aged Care Act and these amendments make sure that that extends also to retirement villages. On the basis that it is consistent with our previous debates and is a clarification and an elaboration on them, I wholeheartedly endorse them and recommend them to this house.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I rise to indicate my support for the motion accepting the amendments from the other place. I wish to place on record that the other place did wholly accept the message from this house after the comprehensive debate that the member for Port Adelaide outlined and the reasons for doing so.

What this essentially does is ensure that when we look at aged-care accommodation it is not just confined to commonwealth residential aged-care facilities but also to state-based retirement villages. That is in recognition, I am advised, that some 26,000 people live in residential retirement village options; of those, I am advised 1,400 are in retirement villages provided by Catholic-related agencies and approximately another 1,500 are in retirement villages provided by members of the Lutheran community.

Both these communities have indicated their concerns in relation to this legislation and they are therefore a not insubstantial number within the cohort who reside in this accommodation, but clearly the overwhelming number in relation to those who operate these facilities are people who, as the member has rightly pointed out, are living in their own home and therefore ought to be accommodated.

I thank the Legislative Council for its fulsome acceptance of our amendments and note this helpful addition.

Motion carried.