Labor will come under pressure to allow Australians to access voluntary assisted dying through telehealth services, with the Greens and independent Kate Chaney to introduce legislation based on changes to Labor’s national platform.
Platform change and Albanese's stance
Last week’s national conference in Adelaide changed the ALP platform and committed Labor to overturn a Howard-era law banning people from having medical appointments regarding euthanasia via telehealth services. New language added to the platform gives Labor MPs a conscience vote on the issue, but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Sunday the government might not progress laws through parliament.
Albanese said while he supported assisted dying, he believed the telehealth change risked undermining proper medical safeguards. “It is important that people have the right to die … with dignity,” he told ABC TV. “But it’s also important that protections are placed around it. Now, if someone has a heart attack or an acute health condition, they need a doctor. They can’t do that over telehealth. I think someone ending their life is just as important. I think it should be face-to-face recognition and face-to-face engagement. My concern is … the potential for misuse but also the potential it has to undermine the system itself.”
Legislative moves by Greens and Chaney
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Sunday indicated she would quickly move ahead with a private member’s bill on the issue, an apparent attempt to force Labor’s hand. The Curtin MP, Kate Chaney, had said on Friday that she would move to reintroduce her own private member’s bill in the lower house, saying it would give Labor “the earliest opportunity to bring this cruel anomaly to an end and give country people the same access as Australians in the big cities”.
“This overdue change in Labor policy on voluntary assisted dying should mean an end to the needless suffering of people in the final stages of life, particularly for those in regional areas who are currently forced to travel, sometimes repeatedly, just to access lawful medical care,” she said.
Campaigner and medical expert views
Andrew Denton, a longtime campaigner and the founding director of Go Gentle, said access to care should not depend on someone’s location. “The PM is a supporter of end-of-life choice and he’s right to ask questions about the safety of using telehealth in the VAD process,” Denton said on Sunday. “For reassurance, he need look no further than the expert advice from medical groups such as the Australian Medical Association and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, who say telehealth can and should be a safe adjunct to VAD services, certainly where the patient is too sick to travel or when a doctor cannot reach the patient in time.”
Doctors and advocates for voluntary assisted dying have long called for changes, arguing the telehealth ban adversely affects patients who live in rural and remote areas, and those whose conditions limit their movement or make travel painful. The federal criminal code prohibits the use of a carriage service to incite or encourage suicide, so health professionals risk breaking the law if they use telecommunications for many aspects of the VAD process. Fines of up to $300,000 are also possible for breaches of the law.
Current legal barriers and platform details
Disparities between state and federal laws currently add to delays to patients obtaining approval for voluntary assisted dying, which is particularly problematic for those with health conditions leading to rapid decline, and who want to die at home. While state laws differ, generally, patients must make at least three requests for access to voluntary assisted dying to their doctor, and be assessed at least twice by medical professionals. Doctors require these appointments to be in person so that they do not breach federal laws.
Labor’s updated national platform says the party will “remove barriers that exist in federal law to the provision of end-of-life care (including via telehealth) as part of lawful access to voluntary assisted dying in the states and territories, while maintaining appropriate clinical safeguards”. It also guarantees a conscience vote on the issue, where MPs are not bound by the government’s position on a bill.
