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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-23 Daily Xml
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VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:43): First of all, I note the passing of Mary Gallnor, the great Liberal Party councillor and party member, and acknowledge the work and contributions she has made on a number of issues, including voluntary euthanasia, decriminalisation of sex work, equal opportunity, antidiscrimination, and other progressive social justice issues. I know that a number of members from the Liberal Party, and certainly from the Labor Party, are well aware of the fantastic work that she has done over many decades. She will be sadly missed. Condolences to her family, certainly from me and the Ashford electoral staff who got to know Mary very well over the last few years.

I have been researching, as is my wont, some of the international models that we could look at in South Australia. I note that 11 million citizens of Belgium have had the right to choose how and when they die for the last decade. In my view, Belgium is very similar to Australia in many ways. We both love beer and chocolates, we are partners in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Belgium is the birthplace of Aussie Kim Clijsters, and the Belgians do not take themselves too seriously.

Belgium hosts the headquarters for the European Union and NATO; french fries and Guylian chocolates originated there; and the creator of Tintin, Georges Rémi, is a Belgian. Similar to Australia, Belgium is largely secular; however, it is different to Australia in that the Roman Catholic Church is the dominant Christian religion. It is interesting to note that the Belgian parliament voted for voluntary euthanasia in 2002 but in South Australia, after 13 attempts, we still have not voted for the same right.

Belgium has a long history of high quality and widely available palliative care. Palliative care workers realised that even with the best palliative care it is not possible to provide everyone with a dignified death. Palliative care workers and voluntary euthanasia advocates worked together over many years to support the introduction of voluntary euthanasia legislation. It seems that in Australia, unlike in Belgium, palliative care and voluntary euthanasia are viewed as mutually exclusive concepts.

This historical—and sometimes hysterical—antagonism between palliative care and voluntary euthanasia is clearly unfounded. In all jurisdictions where a form of voluntary euthanasia or medically assisted dying is available, funding for palliative care has increased. If I have a terminal illness I want the best palliative care available, but when even the best palliative care cannot make my life bearable then I want to have the right to die with dignity.

Palliative care physicians acknowledge that they cannot always relieve all the symptoms of a terminal illness, nor is good quality palliative care available to everyone. The majority of people who make use of voluntary euthanasia around the world are suffering from cancer, are well educated, and in an older age group. They have made an informed, adult decision to choose voluntary euthanasia. When it is my time I want to be able to openly discuss with my carers my request to die while I still have some dignity, before I am unable to take care of my personal hygiene and when I am still capable of making that decision.

In a 2005 obituary the British Medical Journal acknowledged Dame Cicely Saunders as 'more than anybody else...responsible for establishing the discipline and the culture of palliative care'. Dame Cicely Saunders founded and built the first and most famous hospice, Saint Christopher's, which opened in 1967. By the time of her death in 2005, Saint Christopher's had trained more than 50,000 students and spread palliative care programs based on the Saint Christopher's culture to more than 120 countries. Members of parliament here may wish to note that in 11 years in Belgium palliative care seems to have worked well, even though voluntary euthanasia is part of that care.

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