The Canberra Liberals say they would not change the forthcoming euthanasia scheme despite unsuccessfully pushing for amendments before the laws passed and the majority of their members voting against it. Source: Canberra Times.
Labor yesterday promised to provide extra funding for palliative care services and would commit to expanding a respite home program for people with life-limiting illnesses.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he believed Labor was the only major party in a position to deliver on a commitment to implement “Australia’s best voluntary assisted dying laws”.
Asked if a Canberra Liberals government would make any change to the forthcoming VAD scheme, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said: “No.”
Liberal members, including Ms Lee, had sought to move a series of technical amendments to the VAD laws before they passed in the Legislative Assembly, 20 votes to five, in June.
Eligible people will be able to access voluntary assisted dying in the ACT from November 3, 2025.
Labor’s election campaign has, in part, focused on the risks to the VAD scheme if the Liberals were to win government after October 19.
Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne on Thursday said: “I think one of the most disturbing things of this campaign, for many of us, is Canberra Liberals presenting themselves as one thing and then it being revealed that perhaps their values might lie elsewhere.”
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said a re-elected Labor government would support the expansion of Leo’s Place, which she said was a nation-leading respite service run in the community by Palliative Care ACT.
The service would have an extra two beds from 2026 and an extra four beds from 2027-28, when it opened in a new, purpose-built facility in Garran.
“We’re also continuing to expand our own services as well. More home-based palliative care and an additional three beds at Clare Holland House to open through the next term of government if Labor is re-elected,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
The ACT was unable to introduce a voluntary assisted dying scheme until the federal Labor Government repealed a 1997 law that banned the territories from introducing such schemes.
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Lee vows no change on VAD as Labor promises more palliative care (By Jasper Lindell, Canberra Times)
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