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Dying with Dignity WA to rally over euthanasia laws as Australian Christian Lobby WA ready campaign

Headshot of Dylan Caporn
Dylan CapornThe West Australian
Peter Abetz said the Australian Christian Lobby would launch a Statewide campaign to educate voters about voluntary euthanasia.
Camera IconPeter Abetz said the Australian Christian Lobby would launch a Statewide campaign to educate voters about voluntary euthanasia. Credit: Nic Ellis

Voluntary euthanasia is about to become a major political issue in WA, with opposing sides of the divisive issue revealing they will campaign hard when Parliament considers the matter.

Ahead of the release of a landmark parliamentary report on end-of-life choices today, Australian Christian Lobby WA convener Peter Abetz said the group would launch a Statewide campaign to educate voters about voluntary euthanasia.

“The ACL was very actively involved in the campaign against the Victorian legislation so I guess it would be a similar grassroots campaign, lobbying MPs and giving them the information which would hopefully help them make the decision not to go down this path,” Mr Abetz said.

“We believe the evidence from around the world is such that euthanasia, even with the best of intentions as far as protections are concerned, is never adequate and the whole dynamic of the doctor-patient relationship changes dramatically.”

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Dying With Dignity WA president Murray Hindle said the group would use a rally at Parliament today to launch its campaign.

VideoA hearing into voluntary euthanasia has been told a new category of medical professionals may be needed if euthanasia is introduced into WA.

“We will be campaigning hard,” Mr Hindle said.

“The problem we’ve got is ... 88 per cent of West Australians polled said they supported a doctor giving a dying patient a lethal dose — there’s no ambiguity about that.

“But of the 12 per cent, while they are insignificant in terms of numbers, they’re quite a powerful and noisy group.”

The end-of-life choices report comes after a yearlong parliamentary inquiry.

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