News

Published: 11 December 2019

The passage of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 tells Western Australians that a vote for Labor is a vote for the tragic suicide of vulnerable dying patients, according to FamilyVoice WA Director Darryl Budge.

“Kevin Rudd’s warning that ‘complex bioethical questions’ were being ‘glossed over in a rush’ (The Australian, 6/12/2019) tells us that he knows the party’s embrace of euthanasia has the potential to do electoral damage to Labor,” said Darryl Budge.

“All compassionate voters would agree with Kevin Rudd that ‘Nothing is more fundamental than life’.

“The WA government will fund a large specialist team to supply on-demand suicide of dying patients in regional areas, but has refused to fund one on-demand palliative care specialist or nurse to go anywhere in WA.

“Regional, dying patients will have a Hobson’s choice between suicide experts and non-specialist life-giving care.”

The legislation now enters an 18-month implementation phase in which administration details and conflicts with federal law will be resolved. The type of lethal poison will be determined in that phase.

“We put on record our concern that eventually abuses of this legislation will occur, and we highlight the view of English neurosurgeon Henry Marsh who said, ‘Even if a few grannies get bullied into it, isn’t that the price worth paying for all the people who could die with dignity?’

“FamilyVoice worked alongside with many pro-life Legislative Councillors, include Nick Goiran, and we thank them for their efforts lessen the number of possible wrongful deaths by this bill. However, one can only mend something so much before it is exposed as irretrievably broken, as this ill-considered legislation will be.”

Those who voted against the bill were:

Liberals - Nick Goiran (South Metro Region), Ken Baston (Mining and Pastoral), Michael Mischin (North Metro), Donna Faragher (East Metro), Simon O'Brien (South Metro), Peter Collier (North Metro), Steve Thomas (South West)

Independent - Charles Smith (East Metro)

Shooters, Fishers Farmers - Rick Mazza (Agricultural)

Labor - Adele Farina (South West)

One Nation - Colin Tincknell (South West)

FamilyVoice supporters are invited to write to the no-voting MPs to express your thanks for their defence of life.

In total, MPs passed 55 amendments (including 25 from Nick Goiran MLC, and 12 from Labor, as per attachment) to the Premier’s self-proclaimed “safe” Bill. Some of these amendments included:

• Neither of the two doctors authorising euthanasia can be a family member of the patient or a beneficiary under the patient’s will;
• Doctors must show reasonable care and skill, not merely ‘act in good faith’;
• Patients in the process must be informed about the palliative care and treatment options available to the person;
• Only doctors and nurses can suggest euthanasia and assisted suicide, down from 16 occupations including health care workers, podiatrists and Chinese medicine practitioners.

Mr Budge said that the bill still has manifestly unsafe provisions, and that it is less safe than both the Victorian legislation and the inoperative NT legislation, citing the following points:

• A patient can self-administer the poison without any supervision;
• Doctors are compelled to falsify the death certificate, which must not list euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide as cause of death (a vote to change this clause was narrowly lost 17-18);
• Medical staff who conscientiously object will be forced to provide information on how to access the scheme;
• There is no requirement to store the lethal substance securely;
• Doctors are not prohibited from steering patients towards suicide, even when other palliative care options are available. They can legally raise the possibility of euthanasia but not “influence” the patient. The trust of ‘medical experts’ by patients was not considered.

The FamilyVoice WA Director expressed disappointed that MPs were unduly pressured to bring forward the final vote in the upper house, because, he said, “This effectively denied proper consideration for the promised conscience vote.”

“We will enter a different kind of campaign next year, as details emerge during the 18-month implementation phase,” Mr Budge said.

“Next year we also face a WA government review of equal opportunity laws for schools and exclusion-zone proposals that will stifle free speech and deny help to fearful women. Stay tuned!

“Though we have lost this fight for now, FamilyVoice and all Christians will continue to provide comfort and peace to a lonely and hurt world that needs His love, wisdom and justice.”

Published: 20 November 2019

Rejecting a sexually-explicit advertising campaign, Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia is urging underwear retailer Bonds to apologise and withdraw its current advert that undermines the bonds of faith ahead of Christmas.

“Images of two men kissing passionately while sporting only their Bonds underwear is hardly the appropriate message at any time of the year - and particularly not at Christmas,” said FamilyVoice spokesman David d’Lima.

“That special time which bonds faith and family should not be contaminated by businesses pushing explicit images into the marketplace,” he said.

“Many Australian families will no longer be comfortable purchasing from a company that displays a blatant disregard for the nativity season.

“Bonds should apologise and withdraw its current advert that undermines the bonds of faith ahead of Christmas.”

For MEDIA ENQUIRIES, contact David d'Lima on 0414 969 145.

Published: 14 November 2019

Published: 14 November 2019

A Christian man who was arrested for praying peacefully outside an abortion clinic in the UK has had charges against him dropped.

Christian Hacking, who was confined to a wheelchair after breaking his back from a rock-climbing incident, was arrested in August this year after allegedly breaching a “Public Spaces Protection Order” near an abortion clinic in London.

Christian Concern reported that:

Police warned Christian and his friend that merely being on the green outside of the clinic was a breach of the PSPO.

After this, his friend leaves, but Christian can be heard saying, “I’m going to continue praying. I’m in this place because they’re killing human beings inside this clinic, it is against the law to ban anyone praying anywhere in this land. The PSPO has been built upon false grounds, false harassment, fake news, I don’t respect it. I don’t think you have a constitutional right to stop someone from praying, so I’m going to continue praying here until you remove me, forcibly or whatever, because what’s more important is that God’s law is upheld in this nation and not the law of those who govern this nation and not this ludicrous law that says people can’t pray.”

Christian then asked for clarification from the police officer over whether it was a criminal offence to pray in that location. The officer said: “l’m saying you’re in breach of the court order.” Christian responded: “So it’s a criminal offence to pray, according to the court order, it’s a criminal offence to pray outside of a place where children are being killed?” The officer then merely stated: “I believe that I’ve given you the answer.”

Police requested that Christian stand, but he responded: “I can’t stand up, I’m in a wheelchair. I’m not moving, I’m praying. I’m not going to capitulate to your demands. I am allowed to pray here. This earth was the Lord’s before it was Ealing Council’s.”

Christian Concern reported that four officers then carried Christian by his arms and legs and placed him into a police riot vehicle. Christian was taken to a police station where he was imprisoned for eight hours before being released on bail.

Charges against the 29-year-old were subsequently dropped by the Crown Prosecution Office.

“To be treated like a criminal and imprisoned for eight hours for praying is ludicrous”, said Christian.

“My Christian faith calls me to defend the voiceless and what more peaceful way can I achieve this than through prayer. If abortion providers don’t want me praying outside their clinic they should buy the land and ring fence it. Not arrest people for doing what they don’t like on public property.

“I do not regret what I did, and urge the Church to pray more, not less outside of clinics until the killing stops. Surely we, as a nation, can give women in a crisis something better than abortion. 

“I care deeply about all the families who attend abortion clinics and will continue to do what it takes, no matter what, until this silent genocide of innocent children ends,” he added.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said that it is astonishing that vital police resources have been used to arrest and detain a man in a wheelchair for peacefully praying outside an abortion clinic.

“The alleged purpose of the PSPO legislation was to prevent harassment despite there never having been evidence to show that women have been harassed. The authorities now seem to think that even prayer is harassment. Christian did not harass anybody, and his arrest was just plain wrong.

“The footage of four police officers carrying a disabled man and his wheelchair to a riot van, simply for praying, is deeply disturbing. Its intended effect is to silence any opposition to what is going on in the clinic. Christian’s arrest will have the opposite result.

“Christian took a courageous stand outside of the clinic motivated by God’s love for each and every one of us and especially for women in crisis pregnancies and their children.  What does it say about our society when peaceful compassion for life is treated by arrest and imprisonment?

“We call on Ealing Council to review their policy around the buffer zone and for free speech and free movement to be properly restored to the area.”

Meanwhile in South Australia, upper house MPs have approved legislation to impose a 150 metre restriction around “protected premises”, including abortion clinics.  The proposed measure, which now awaits the verdict of the state’s lower house, will restrict the ability of persons to provide last minute support to women during this difficult time. 

The WA government recently concluded a public consultation on exclusion zone laws, in the hope of imposing them across WA. The submissions to this inquiry have not yet been made public.

There are similar 150m restriction zones in place around abortion clinics in NT, Queensland, NSW, and ACT, and 50m zones in Tasmania.