NICK McKIM www.tas.greens.org.au
Tasmanian Greens Leader Nick McKim MP today urged Legislative Councillors to vote against a Select Committee, proposed by Ruth Forest MLC, which would inquire into issues associated with voluntary euthanasia.
Mr McKim said that Ms Forrest’s Committee is not necessary, and puts at risk the passage of his Dying With Dignity Bill, as the Committee may not even report until after the next state election.
“A Committee would waste valuable time, and is unnecessary because the community’s opinion is already well known, and all the information necessary for an informed debate is already in the public domain.”
“There is overwhelming public support for the law to be changed, and it’s time that MPs showed the moral courage to actually vote on the issue.”
“If this Committee gets up, it will make very difficult for my Bill to pass the Lower House, and certainly it’s hard to imagine the Upper House being prepared to consider it while a Committee is still running.”
“Tasmanians with terminal illnesses deserve to have their political representatives vote on the issue itself, not for more delays, and I plead with Legislative Councillors not to support this Committee.”
“Delaying a vote on my Bill until next year, while some Tasmanians continue to die unnecessarily agonising and humiliating deaths, is simply not an option,” Mr McKim said.
