I attended the Dying with Dignity NSW Forum at Parliament House in Sydney, Wednesday 25th February.
A feature of the afternoon was the launch of the Pollies Register, that lists the support or otherwise of NSW MP’s and candidates on the issue of VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING for the Election on Saturday 28 March.
The LOWER HOUSE list may be found here, but please check for updates as they come in –
http://dwdnsw.org.au/documents/2015/pollies%20regsiter.pdf
Pro-Choice candidates for the Upper House can be found here –
http://dwdnsw.org.au/vote-for-pro-choice-candidates-in-the-nsw-election/
DWDnsw President Sarah Edelman gave an insight into why so many candidates and MPs have not responded. I have personally emailed or Facebooked each of these “non- responses” in an effort to get learn if they are Pro-Choice.
Sincere thanks to our NSW members who have made the effort to contact their candidates.
Speakers Trevor Khan, Nationals MLC and journalist Tracey Spicer gave harrowing stories behind why they support this issue
Christians Supporting Choice for VE is certainly not a political party, however we would encourage members to vote for Pro-Choice candidates who support Assisted Dying. Note that The Greens Policy is to strongly support this issue.
In the Upper House, please consider The Voluntary Euthanasia Party and the dynamic Shayne Higson, their lead candidate. If voting above the line on the Upper House white ballot paper you may wish to vote [1] VEP then give your usual preference the [2].
For the two major parties, Voluntary Assisted Dying is supposedly a ‘conscience’ issue. This makes the last vote on the Upper House Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill impossible to understand, given 4 out of 5 Australians are in support! Labor voted 61.5% in Favour of VE, 8 For / 5 Against. The Coalition had 0% in favour, all their votes were against or abstaining.