Dying With Dignity happy euthanasia back on agenda

By Dellaram Jamali
Updated November 2 2012 - 2:58pm, first published September 20 2010 - 3:10pm

MEMBERS of the Ballarat Dying With Dignity group are pleased the euthanasia debate has resumed.Their statements come after Australian Greens leader Bob Brown proposed that the rights of territory governments to legalise euthanasia be restored.''They're taking the first steps so the issue is able to be debated again. It's keeping the matter in the public,'' member of DWD Barbara Morison said. ''But as far as euthanasia is concerned, there is still a long way before it's legalised. Not much has changed with its immediate happenings.'' The 89 year old has been a member of DWD Victoria for almost 15 years after she witnessed her mother-in-law suffering.''She lived to be 104 and in the last 10 years of her life she was bed-ridden, deaf and unable to speak,'' Mrs Morison said.''She was like a vegetable and it had an enormous impact on her family.''The current euthanasia laws differ from state to state, but it is illegal for anyone to end the life of another under any circumstance. The legislation is currently under review in states such as South Australia and Western Australia.DWD Ballarat secretary Roy Schrieke said, philosophically, everyone should have the right to choose when to end their life.''We don't believe in voluntary euthanasia at any time. We believe in dying with dignity; the release of intolerable suffering,'' Mr Schrieke said. ''The emphasis we place is on changes in the law that allow people to make their own end-of-life decisions for the terminally ill who are suffering.''Mr Schrieke said DWD was preparing for an intense campaign should the issue soon arise in Victorian parliament.''We're in the thick of it,'' he said.Member for Ballarat Catherine King said euthanasia was a serious moral and ethical issue which encompassed a range of legal considerations.''The Australian government believes every person should have access to quality palliative care and should have a right to relief from pain and suffering. But safeguards to prevent abuse or wrongful actions are vital,'' Ms King said.

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