Euthanasia law critics gather for final push as vote nears

We’re not making any predictions and we’re not taking anyone for granted.

David Seymour

Palliative care workers have joined last-minute pleas against a voluntary euthanasia bill as politicians look likely to pass the legislation at its final vote in Parliament.

Act leader David Seymour’s fiercely debated End of Life Choice Bill will have its third reading in the House today.

The law — which would let terminally ill adults with less than six months left to live access assisted dying — will go a public referendum at next year’s general election if it passes the vote today.

The bill cleared its second reading 70 votes to 50 in June, and Seymour has made several changes since to secure backing, so only a handful of

MPs are expected to change sides, suggesting it will comfortably clear the 61 votes needed.

Opposing MPs, including Labour’s Meka Whaitiri and National’s Chris Penk, yesterday brought people in the hospice and palliative care industries to the Beehive to make a lastminute plea against the bill.

Aileen Collier of Palliative Care Nurses of NZ said that despite consciousness objection clauses in the bill, the legislation would leave “nurses in the thick” of the process.

“Nurses will be involved. We’ll be involved in the multiple conversations as people decide. We will be involved in responding to their concerns and their symptoms as they await their appointments. We’ll be involved when, after their appoint

ment, they don’t meet the criteria and are turned down,” she said.

“And we’ll be involved in the mess of conflict between patients and family when there are differences of opinion.”

A group of doctors opposing the law, Doctors Say No, on Sunday announced its open letter to MPs had received its 1500th signature.

Euthanasia-Free NZ this week released a Curia poll it says shows the public are confused about what the bill actually contains and that a referendum next year would not reflect true public sentiment. And a protest is also expected on Parliament’s lawn today before the vote.

Seymour, meanwhile, has been doing his own lobbying among MPs in hopes for securing a few more votes. “But we’re not making any predictions and we’re not taking anyone for granted,” he said.

He said that after nearly two years of debate on the bill — it had its first reading in late 2017 and underwent a lengthy select committee process that received a record 39,000 submissions — there were few issues that had not already been raised and discussed.

He said public opinion had not been swayed by opposition, with polling in July showing there was 72 per cent support for some kind of assisted dying for the terminally ill.

“There are some nurses that are distressed by the fact their country has changed the laws, but that’s more a reflection on the personal views of those individuals than a system-wide problem,” Seymour said.

Votes on the bill have been carried out on conscience, meaning MPs will vote individually, rather than along party lines. All members of the Green Party and New Zealand First are supporting the bill, while Labour and National MPs are split.