TASMANIANS - Act Now to stop Patient Killing!

• Tasmanian MP Mike Gaffney (IND) MLC introduced his euthanasia bill [End Of Life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill 2020] into the Legislative Council on 27/8/20.  The bill will be debated on 15 September 2020.
• The bill, if passed, will be a passport to suicide.
• Unlike in Victoria and WA which now allow euthanasia for the terminally ill, this bill extends eligibility to a much wider group in the community.
• It will be applied to a whole range of incurable medical conditions:
  • e.g. diabetes,
  • heart disease,
  • arthritis and
  • injuries caused by accidents e.g. paraplegia, quadriplegia - valiant people we admire at the Paralympic Games.
• Legalised euthanasia was passed in the Victorian Parliament in 2017 and in Western Australia in 2019. Already, in Victoria we have statistics available for the number of people who have been killed by assisted suicide or by lethal injection from the doctor.
• The first year’s statistics are alarming! More than 50 people ended their lives under the scheme between June and December 2019. It is ironic that the government is otherwise working hard to lower suicide rates in the community.
• Already, barely a year after passing the bill, Victorian news outlets e.g. “The Age” are canvassing to allow more people to be eligible for euthanasia.

The following will be permitted under the Tasmanian bill:

• A person does not have to be terminally ill to be eligible.
• Death does not need to be imminent.
• A person needs to reside in Tasmania for only 12 months to be eligible.
• The approval to die process can be as short as four days!
• No need for a doctor who specialises in the patient’s condition to sign off on the approval.
• Doctors are able to initiate a conversation about euthanasia with patients.

TAKE ACTION: CONTACT YOUR 6 REPRESENTATIVES!

“We must care for people not kill them!”

Please contact your 6 MPs: [Legislative Council (1 to contact) & House of Assembly (5 to contact)]

• • Write a short hand-written letter to your MPs or
  • Visit in person – make an appointment or “drop in” to your MPs’ offices or
  • Phone MPs’ offices. If unavailable, ask for your message to be written down or
  • Email your MPs (last option). NB Letters and visits preferred.

Legislative Council

There are 15 divisions –
[Derwent, Elwick, Hobart, Huon, Launceston, McIntyre, Mersey, Montgomery, Murchison, Nelson, Pembroke, Prosser, Rosevears, Rumney, Windermere].

You have 1 MP to contact

FIRST- click to Check the name of your electoral division
Click to find the name of your Legislative Council member
Or phone: (03) 6212 2300

House of Assembly

There are 5 divisions (Bass, Braddon, Clark, Franklin & Lyons). Each division has 5 MPs.
You have 5 MPs to contact. 
Check the name of your division
Click to find your 5 House of Assembly members
Or phone: (03) 6212 2200

Tell your MPs “We must care for people not kill them!”

For letterwriting: Check the facts here

For more information: Margaret Tighe 0417 338 961

The introduction of a euthanasia bill by MP Mike Gaffney MLC in Tasmania rings alarm bells.   Will Tasmania heed the danger as shown by Victoria's euthanasia toll - already surpassing government predictions?

Alarmingly - the death of 52 Victorians in 6 months under the Andrews' government's assisted suicide act far exceeds the prediction of the likely deaths in that passage of time according to the Victorian government.

Medical group Australian Care Alliance highlights these figures in their analysis "Victorian deaths from assisted suicide hit rate that took Oregon 14 years."  They document the sharp increase in the number of Victorians who have had their lives ended after the first six months of operation of the so-called ‘voluntary assisted dying' legislation.

So much for the famous “safeguards”. This is an example of what can and will occur once the genie is out of the bottle as has been the case in those countries like Holland and Belgium that have been practising euthanasia for some years now.

A Dutch physician friend of mine - the late Dr Karel Gunning of Rotterdam - once told me this alarming story:

An oncologist friend of his was treating a woman dying of lung cancer. He recommended that she would be much more comfortable in hospital. She refused to go because she was scared she would be given euthanasia. Her doctor assured her he would never do that so she reluctantly agreed to be hospitalised.

As a result she was more comfortable.

One weekend her doctor was off duty. When he returned he found his patient was not in her bed. “Oh” said the junior doctor – “I gave her euthanasia. She only had a few more weeks to live and we needed the bed!”

It is interesting to note in September 2015 the British House of Commons voted overwhelmingly 3:1 (330:118) against euthanasia. (Assisted Dying [No. 2] Bill [11/9/2015])

The main argument against the legislation that carried the day was that it was too dangerous. In this the MPs were influenced by Professor Theo Boer of The Netherlands who addressed them. “Don’t do it” he said.

“I was originally in favour of it and now I see it is far too dangerous.”

A leading outspoken critic of the bill at the time was Baroness Butler-Sloss - former Chief Justice of the Family Division of the British High Court. She said:

“The safeguards provide no real protection to the vulnerable and will fall apart should this become law…This bill will place many elderly, ill and vulnerable people in significantly more danger.”

See newspaper cutting from UK group

She also expressed concerns over the ability of doctors to judge whether abuse or coercion had taken place.

An article – published in The Australian newspaper 22/8/20 “John Olsen’s stepdaughter loses appeal over $2.2 million ‘gift’ from dying Mum” (The Australian subscribers only) is an illustration of the lesson from Baroness Butler-Sloss.

For judgment in this case view: Supreme Court of New South Wales - Court of Appeal Mentink v Olsen [2020] NSWCA 182 (21 August 2020)

Finally, on the matter of religion being used to oppose the bill. Legislators of no belief or a variety of beliefs prepare and vote for legislation governing the protection of human life - day in and day out – legislation relating to homicide, manslaughter, dangerous driving, assault and rape, proper care of children etc.

Why then is the matter of religious beliefs not called into question during debates on these matters? Because we are supposed to be a civilised society that should protect the weak and vulnerable.
Those who draw on these arguments merely wish to introduce sectarianism into the debate in a cheap attempt to win more support from those of no religious beliefs.

For more information Margaret Tighe 0417 338 961

The Right to Life Australia Inc is very concerned to learn that a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus is derived from an aborted child. Let us not forget that the life of this child is of the same value as those that the developers of the vaccine are trying to save.

Surely a vaccine is able to be derived other than by the use of a precious human life. Contact the Prime Minister Mr Scott Morrison:

Phone: (02) 6277 7700

Postal address:

PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Send a message online: https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm

Tell him NO to vaccines being derived from aborted babies cells.

Update: Scott Morrison says, "Many vaccines in development do not contain these cell lines (derived from aborted babies), including the UQ vaccine candidate which the government is already supporting with $5 million." Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/anglican-archbishop-threatens-boycott-of-oxford-vaccine-over-use-of-fetal-cells

However, we still ask you to contact Scott Morrison and urge him to not release any vaccine whatsoever derived from aborted babies cells.

The dementia nursing home patients being turned away from our overstressed public hospitals like the Royal Melbourne are NOT dying patients.