Victoria’s bishops have urged Catholics in the state to write to their local members of parliament as the government moved to remove safeguards from its voluntary assisted dying legislation.
The state’s Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas introduced legislation on 14 October to amend the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017, under which 1,683 Victorians have died since 2019.
She said the new legislation would remove “unnecessary barriers” to accessing VAD and maintain safeguards to ensure decisions are voluntary, the person has decision-making capacity, and they are free from coercion.
However, the proposed key changes include removing a ban on health practitioners raising VAD as an option with patients in discussions about their end-of-life care, and weakening protections health practitioners who conscientiously object to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
It would also extend the prognosis requirement (life expectancy limit for eligibility) from six months to 12 months.
Labor and Coalition MPs will be given a conscience vote on the bill.
The Eparch for Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, Cardinal Mykola Cardinal Bychok CSsR, and Archbishop of Melbourne Peter A Comensoli were among the bishops urging Victorians to contact their local MPs and urge them to vote against the bill.
“As the late Pope Francis reminded us, ‘euthanasia is often presented falsely as a form of compassion. Yet ‘compassion’ … does not involve the intentional ending of a life, but rather the willingness to share the burdens of those facing the end stages of our earthly pilgrimage,” they wrote in a joint pastoral letter on 14 October.
“The Government’s Bill seeks to remove many of the limited protections offered by Victoria’s so-called ‘voluntary assisted dying’ (VAD) laws.
“The changes would, for the first time, allow medical practitioners to raise euthanasia and assisted suicide with patients who have never asked about it – patients who may be at their most vulnerable.
“The changes would also force medical practitioners who conscientiously object to euthanasia and assisted suicide to provide patients with information about euthanasia and assisted suicide – as determined by the government.”
The other signatories of the pastoral letter were Bishop of Sale Greg Bennet, Bishop of Ballarat Paul Bird CSsR, Administrator of Sandhurst Reverend Dr Brian Boyle, and Eparch for Syro-Malabar Catholics in Melbourne Bishop John Panamthottathil CMI.
“As Catholics, we stand united in this conviction with many people of good will from other Christian communities and from other religions,” the leaders wrote.
“Earlier this year, a group of religious leaders from Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities united in calling on the Victorian Government to abandon its proposed changes to VAD laws.
“As the leaders made clear, ‘we do not believe euthanasia or assisted suicide can ever be made safe – since they involve acts that are unsafe in their very essence’.
“Instead of attempting to expand euthanasia and assisted suicide, we urge Members of Parliament to continue expanding access to good palliative care to all Victorians, particularly for those in the regions.”
Victoria legalised voluntary assisted dying in 2017.
New South Wales followed suit with its dying laws in 2022, but on 15 October Susan Carter MCL introduced a bill to strengthen conscientious objections in the state.
If passed, her amendment to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022 would protect the ethos of faith-based aged care facilities by allowing them decline to facilitate the administration of voluntary assisted dying services on their premises.
“The bill ensures that faith-based aged-care facilities are treated no differently from faith-based hospitals,” said Carter in her second reading speech.
“For those families who, together with their ageing parent or grandparent, chose an environment based on faith that deeply respects the value of life, they want to know that the idea of the hastened death of their loved one is not part of the culture.
“This bill will assuage that anxiety and allow faith-based aged‑care facilities to fulfil their unique mission.”