Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Restoring Territory Rights (Assisted Suicide Legislation) Bill 2015. I say at the outset that this piece of legislation is almost identical to private members' bills previously foreshadowed and introduced by the former Leader of the Greens, Senator Bob Brown. In fact, it was since the Andrews bill, the original bill which overthrew the democratic decisions of the territories to introduce laws in relation to euthanasia, that, in a strong opposition to that original bill, Bob Brown at the time spoke very passionately and really led the charge in trying to stop not just this antidemocratic legislation but, indeed, legislation that was anti-empathy.

That really goes to the heart of this entire issue. This bill before us today gives back choice for people who live in the Northern Territory and the ACT to ensure that they have a right to contribute to the laws that govern them. But, of course, it also gives back the right to those governments and the citizens of the territories to make decisions about whether they believe in assisted dying in the matter of the immense suffering of somebody who is sick and in pain, with no hope or chance of ever getting better—whether those people should have the right to end their own lives.

I fundamentally believe in and support the right of individuals to end their own lives in those circumstances. Yes, of course, in state parliaments where this is being debated, in some places where it's been legislated, there are lots of caveats and lots of checks and balances that are important and essential in making sure that this type of law is governed properly. But, at the end of the day, while we will all vote in this place today, tonight or tomorrow when this debate finishes with a matter of conscience, I also believe we should be voting with a matter of compassion and with a view of empathy. To those members of the Australian community whose families are suffering, it is important for individuals who have terminal illness and disease that will never get better to be able to make their own choice about how they end their lives—with dignity and respect and with choice.

When I was 16, my grandmother died from breast cancer and she suffered immensely, years and years of getting sicker and sicker. The last 12 months of her life were incredibly painful, the last few months in particular. She was unable to move. Drinking a glass of water through a straw was painful for her. She was in so much pain that even having the blankets on her frail body caused her immense suffering. Watching my grandmother—a woman who had been immensely strong and proud my entire life and someone I had looked up to as a beacon of strength—go through this extraordinary suffering and seeing her incapable of making a choice about how to end her own life was not just painful for me as a teenager, as her granddaughter; it was immensely educational. And it just so happened that I was witnessing her suffering at the same time that this parliament was going through a debate about euthanasia and overturning the laws in the ACT and the Northern Territory.

That experience has had an incredible impact on my life. It has given me, from the young age of a teenager, a very strong sense of justice in relation to this issue and a belief that, if we were ever able to right the wrongs of that Andrews bill, this place should do it. Now that I am able to stand here today and participate in this debate and this vote, I do so not just in the shadow of the former senator and leader of the Greens, Bob Brown; I do this for my grandmother, my nan.

There are many, many Australians right across this country who just don't understand why in 2018 this is still an issue of debate. Opinion poll after opinion poll, for over two decades now, has shown that the vast majority of Australians believe we should have a right to choose, in these incredibly hard, painful, suffering circumstances, to end our own lives. For those of us who have nursed our family, friends and loved ones through that end-of-life period, not being able to ensure that they have that choice is in itself incredibly painful. It is no wonder that support for voluntary euthanasia and assisted dying in this country continues to grow.

This bill would correct an immense and shameful wrong that was done back in 1997. This chamber should not have the right to inflict its views on what other state and territory governments do. The immensely undemocratic nature of the law as it is today, as a result of that Andrews bill, remains, and it remains an issue of debate as to whether people in this place support or oppose euthanasia. Why is it that those who live in the ACT or the Northern Territory are somehow second-class citizens? As a South Australian the South Australian parliament has a right to govern for me. It shouldn't matter whether I live in South Australia or Canberra. I should have the same right as an Australian citizen to have my government make decisions and to support those decisions or not.

In a way this bill is all about choice: it is about democratic choice and it is about individual choice. It is about conscience. It is also deeply about compassion. It was heartening in the lead-up to this debate in this place today to hear a number of members in this chamber continue to stand up in support of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide of those who are suffering, with all of those correct checks and balances. It's a pity that it has taken over 20 years to get to the point where the majority of people in this chamber believe that the Senate's shame that was inflicted on the territories back in 1997 should now be overturned. It is an immense step forward. I am grateful for that.

I've been reflecting upon the suffering of my own grandmother when I was 16. I think deeply now as a 36-year-old how I'm going to manage when my parents become sick and elderly. I don't know what their choice will be. Both my parents are pretty sprightly and healthy—touch wood, that that remains so for a long time. When something happens to my mother and father I want them to be able to make their own decision about ending their life, about ending their suffering and pain. I don't want my mum and dad to go through the suffering and pain that my grandmother did.

The mother of my daughter's very good friend died earlier this year. She also died from breast cancer. Susie was a loving mother. She had two little girls—a seven-year-old and a 10-year-old. Susie's suffering was immense. It is beyond me how on earth we cannot allow people to end their lives with dignity and grace. It is able to be done in a safe way. Let's make it able to be done in a legal way as well. I hope that, as those two little girls—friends of my daughter—reflect on the life of their mum and the immense love that she had for them, their memories are not just scarred with the suffering of their mother in the last six months of her life. I hope for those two little girls that, beyond Susie's pain and suffering, they can remember her as the loving, healthy and active mum that she was long before she got sick.

It is for our children and our parents that we debate this legislation today. For me, it is for my parents, my grandmother and my own daughter—that we can progress as a nation to allow a legal mechanism to end suffering and pain in a dignified and compassionate way in this country. I hope that this bill passes this chamber and that the Prime Minister and the government see fit to have it debated fairly in the other place as well. I commend the bill to the Senate.