euthanasia 800

WA's most senior end-of-life care specialists are concerned that an alarming lack of palliative care resources has caused increased demand for euthanasia.

Today, Legislative Assembly MPs will begin debating a bill to legalise euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

According to the doctors, WA has the lowest number of publicly funded care beds per capita in the nation.

WA Palliative Medicines Specialist Group chairman Anil Tandon told WA Today that only one in three Western Australians who needed specialist palliative care had access to it.

Royal Perth Hospital only provided specialist palliative care during office hours, according to Professor Doug Bridge, the former head of palliative care at the hospital.

"I worked at Royal Perth for 20 years as head of department and still five years later I look and there's still no palliative care people on the weekend," he said.

"So Friday night, a patient is in pain, vomiting, breathless, they have to wait until Monday morning to see a specialist. You can't afford to pay them and that's been going on for decades."

Dr Tandon stated that it was no coincidence that states with the worst palliative care were the most supportive of euthanasia.

"If we join those two issues together, the current investment in palliative care and the current demand for euthanasia, what we see is that the two states with the lowest funding for palliative care are Victoria and Western Australia," he said.

"If there hasn't been an investment, well the public is going to want a solution to their distress."

There are only 15 full-time-equivalent palliative care specialists across WA, well under the 50 FTE positions recommended by national benchmarks.

Darryl Budge of FamilyVoice WA said, “In a state with dire statistics relating to elder abuse, mental health and youth suicide, the WA government must instead fix chronic underfunding of palliative care, especially as regional and rural WA are being denied equal access to specialists.

"WA has under one third of the palliative care specialists required by national benchmarks and the state needs more than $100 million in annual spending on palliative care for staffing and education, in addition to funding for infrastructure such as palliative care wards and beds.

"Wrongful deaths are guaranteed by this bill, which has even less safeguards than Victoria. No permit will be required to ensure a legal and robust process. There is no requirement for expert assessment of patient capacity. Evidence from WA’s chief psychiatrist on the importance of psychiatric assessments was ignored.  Patients will be able to “doctor-shop” for any two doctors, who do not need to be financially independent, nor have expertise in palliative care or in the patient’s condition. The doctors can also hide the true cause of death on the death certificate."

WA residents can send concerns to MPs via FamilyVoice’s online platform.

pregnant

Barnaby Joyce has threatened to leave the National Party after a reported backlash from NSW Nationals colleagues over his stance against a radical abortion bill.

It has been reported that NSW Nationals MPs are pushing to have him expelled because of his pro-life stance.

In response, Joyce has upped the ante and sought to call his colleagues’ bluff, saying that if four members of the NSW Nationals publicly state they do not support him, he will quit and become an independent.

Joyce has been an outspoken critic of the extreme NSW abortion bill, saying earlier this month that “two doctors does not equal God”.

“Just because they’re doctors does not mean they have a right to determine whether a healthy person lives or dies,” he said.

Joyce has even invoked his newborn son Tom.

“On 1 June Vikki's and my son Tom took his first breath,” he said in a recent speech in parliament.

“This was not the start of his life. The reality is that he was part of this world for some time and was merely passing from one room to another.

“The hour of birth is an arbitrary point in modern medicine, within a range of two to three months. His birth, to Tom, did not endow him with greater meaning as a person. As parents we had no lesser responsibilities than when Tom left the hospital, being totally reliant on our nurturing and protection.

“Inside the womb, Tom kicked, punched, grabbed his umbilical cord, felt pain, slept and dreamed. With ultrasound, he was most certainly seen in real human form. To say he didn't have the rights of other human life is to say he must have been subhuman,” Joyce said.

Former deputy prime minister John Anderson has warned that Nationals voters could abandon the party because of the “very messy” NSW abortion debate¬, according to The Australian.

“People like my wife will feel truly alienated from the party that she’s been a part of ever since she married me,” Mr Anderson said.

The legislation has been widely condemned.

“The bill is a bad one,”, said Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher. “It will require Catholic (and other) doctors and hospitals to collaborate by either taking part in the abortion or referring patients to someone who will.”

Likewise, Archbishop Makarios, the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia, has criticised the legislation.

“The Orthodox Christian Faith and Tradition unequivocally teach that life begins form the first time of conception, that the life of the unborn is sacred and infinitely valued by God, and therefore must be considered with the same dignity and worth we enjoy ourselves,” he said.

“Tragically, the right to life of the indefensible unborn child is increasingly violated despite the protection and advancement of many other rights.”

Archbishop Makarios said NSW MPs should support pregnant mothers by offering alternatives to abortion.

unborn baby

Thousands of people turned out to protest against an extreme abortion bill in Sydney on Tuesday evening.

Martin Place was chocked full of pro-life supporters, with the crowd estimated to be between 3,000 – 5000 people.

It came after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian backed down from rushing the legislation through parliament after a severe backlash from Liberal colleagues.  That means the legislation will not pass the upper house before September 17.

The legislation seeks to wind back very limited protections that are currently afforded to the unborn and undermines their humanity.

Unborn babies can suck their thumb, make facial expressions, produce tears, sense touch, distinguish languages and respond to music and sounds.  They are not “clumps of cells” but unique human lives.

Scientific evidence proves that babies feel the excruciating pain of abortion and mothers frequently report physical harm and mental anguish following the procedure.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher described the legislation as a “shameful ‘kill bill’”.

He said that “people were ashamed of this bill is evident in the fact that they did not want any public discussion or debate or even for the parliamentarians to have their say.”

“We can convince our leaders to build a civilisation of life and love. We love every human being from the beginning to end and everything in between,” he added.

Rachael Wong , Managing Director of Women’s Forum Australia, said she is so happy to see so many people standing strong for unborn children and their mothers – the two victims of every abortion.

“But I cannot say that I am happy to be here.  I am appalled, angry and heartbroken at what has taken place in our state over the past few weeks.  I am appalled at the utter abuse of process that has surrounded this bill.

“The manner in which it has been rammed through parliament has clearly been aimed to suppress rather than promote democratic debate and discussion around a fundamentally important issue”, she said.

NSW MP Kevin Conolly also spoke.

“We’re not finished yet.  There are thousands here.  It is wonderful to see you.  And you can be heard in the chamber right now,” he said.

He urged pro-lifers to continue their efforts.

“But you have to be heard over the next three weeks as well.

“You have that time to make yourself heard.  You have to do that.”

prostitution

FamilyVoice recently hosted a well-attended anti-prostitution forum.

SA Director David d’Lima is encouraging supporters to contact their local MP and urge rejection of the prostitution bill, which reads like a wish list for pimps and brothel owners.

David has broadcast about the issue locally on radio Life FM and nationally on Vision Radio addressing concerns about the proposed legislation. Additionally, South Australia’s Sunday Mail newspaper published his concerns as follows:

Endorsement of the sex trade in the Editorial (Sunday Mail 7/7/19) is doubtless motivated by concern for the safety and security of sex workers. But, according to the front page report (“Bikie sex trade bid”), the possibility of decriminalising prostitution is already arousing the interest of outlaws. Offenders linked to prostitution will not suddenly become law-abiding citizens if the state commends sex work.

The proposed change would simply create legal and illegal prostitution, utterly undermining the ability of police to minimise every illegality associated with the trade. A better change would require more sensitive policing along with curtailing the purchase of sex.

Then again in The Advertiser of 8 August, 2019:

Commissioner Grant Stevens rightly insists any change to prostitution law must preserve the power of police to deal with illegality associated with brothels (“Fight for brothel search powers”, The Advertiser, yesterday).

The constabulary should hold no moral opinion. But it must firmly express a view about policing drug use, under-age sex, trafficking and other illegalities which seem linked inextricably to so-called sex work.

But it would be a grave mistake if MPs improve the draft legislation simply to secure its passage. The proposal must be defeated on principle.

Loving parents (including MPs) would never wish to see their daughters lawfully entering this inherently damaging and degrading sex industry.

FamilyVoice is working with other groups to expose the dangers of this Bill.


Debate on the prostitution bill is scheduled soon in the Lower House, where it will receive strong rejection by local MPs if enough good-hearted people take time to raise their concerns.

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LGBT activist cracks down on freedom of conscience of bus driver.

A bus driver in the UK has been suspended for refusing to drive a bus emblazoned with LGBT propaganda.

The driver is reported to have told passengers that he is “not driving this bus because it promotes homosexuality”.

The driver asked passengers to “wait a minute” while he changed to a bus which did not feature the political LGBT “pride” colours.

A passenger lodged a complaint and subsequently took to Twitter to bemoan the driver exercising his freedom of conscience.

“Today I was waiting for the 501 bus to Thickthorn and we were told by the driver we had to wait for him to swap buses as 'this bus promotes homosexuality and I refuse to drive it' due to the multicoloured '501' sign. Norwich doesn't appreciate homophobia”, the woman tweeted.

Konectbus threw the driver under the bus, so to speak, replying on social media that: “As a company we do not condone any behaviour from our drivers that does not support this view. The driver involved in this incident has been suspended and a full investigation is underway.”

Christian Concern, a UK-based group which advocates for persecuted Christians, attacked the decision.

“The decision of the Supreme Court in [the] Ashers Bakery case has made it clear that everyone is entitled to refuse to promote a message they disagree with — be that by baking a cake, driving a bus, or in whatever other way”, said Andrea Williams.

“So long as the driver's objection was to the message, not to the messenger, he has not discriminated against anyone and has broken no law.

“If the driver's objection to the rainbow colours was based on his religious or philosophical beliefs, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against him because of those beliefs,” said Williams.

Meanwhile, a petition defending the driver has received over 16,000 signatories.