Voluntary assisted dying passes in the ACT

Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne speaking about voluntary assisted dying passing the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Transcript

00:00Everyone, for your interest in this most significant piece of legislation,

00:06today the ACT Legislative Assembly has made a very significant decision,

00:12considering a piece of legislation that we've not been able to consider

00:18for most of this Assembly's history. I think at the commencement of this parliamentary term

00:25we were still barred from being able to consider end-of-life issues and it took a change in Federal

00:33Government, a cross-party coalition through both the House of Representatives and the Senate

00:40to enable the territories to be able to consider voluntary assisted dying issues.

00:47We said before the Federal Parliament made that decision and after that we would undertake a

00:56rigorous and mature process to arrive at the legislation that we have arrived at and I think

01:05we have certainly honoured that commitment to the people of Canberra. This legislation is amongst

01:13the most significant that this Parliament will ever consider and I am greatly heartened that

01:2020 of the 25 members have supported the legislation, 10 from the Labor Party, 6 from the Greens Party

01:28and 4 from the Liberal Party. I think that demonstrates that the legislation has broad

01:34political support that reflects the very broad community support that we have heard through

01:42the detailed development of the legislation.

01:47An extraordinary moment for the ACT. It's an extraordinary moment nationally because of

01:56the efforts of so many and in what this Bill represents and in what this Bill will do,

02:04in who has contributed to this Bill and when I say nationally it's because this Bill does set

02:11a new standard of fairness, a new standard of respecting autonomy, a new standard

02:19of decision making at the end of someone's life

02:25and I hope that it provides comfort to so many who have been waiting and wanting.

02:33I hope it provides comfort in some way to the states who have done an enormous amount

02:40in leading the way and indeed contributing to the development of our work,

02:46including the lessons that we have learned from them and about the challenges and the barriers

02:54and about the challenges and the barriers that exist there. We have shown that there

03:02is a better way for people to die if they are intolerably suffering.

03:09I'll say that again because I swear I can pronounce that. We have shown that there is a

03:14better way to die for people who are intolerably suffering and there is also

03:21a better voluntary assisted dying scheme, one that reflects our community's values and what

03:28they told us, one that has the support of our clinical community, those who will be working

03:35in this space, one that has the support from so many people who have given countless hours

03:44of advice and expertise and personal stories and for that we are going to implement a scheme

03:53that reflects the best bill in the country, that will be the best scheme

03:57in the country and that provides autonomy and choice to people at the ends of their lives.