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Legalising physician-assisted suicide in Victoria would fundamentally change the nature of medicine and put vulnerable people at risk argues FamilyVoice Australia.

‘Allowing doctors to deliberately kill certain patients radically alters their role,’ said FamilyVoice’s National Director, Ashley Saunders. ‘Euthanasia creates a tectonic shift in health ethics and risks bringing out the worst in human nature.’

He expressed concern that the pressure for a cost-efficient health system may warp into a preference for cheap death over expensive care. Euthanasia laws implicitly tell terminally ill people that they are a burden to their loved ones and to the economy and should remove themselves. As Dying with Dignity admits, fear of being a burden is cited in 40-59% of assisted suicide requests in Oregon and Washington.[1]

Mr Saunders rejected the argument that euthanasia laws are needed to allow people to die with dignity saying, ‘People have intrinsic dignity and a deep worth that can never be diminished. It is not dependent on a certain state of health or manner of death. Respecting people’s dignity does not mean killing them off when they are most vulnerable but rather supporting them through high quality palliative care until their natural death,’ he said.

‘Euthanasia laws remain rare because we are rightly concerned about protecting vulnerable people and upholding high standards of medical ethics,’ concluded Mr Saunders. ‘I urge politicians to listen to the grave concerns of three former presidents of the AMA Victoria, and reject this dangerous bill.’

[1] Dying with Dignity NSW, Assisted dying: Setting the record straight, page 6

Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia is demanding equal public funding for the yes and no cases to avoid "bullying tactics of rainbow activists" ahead of the postal ballot on same-sex marriage.

"The bullying tactics of rainbow activists ahead of the Irish experience[1] should warn Parliament to fund both cases," said FamilyVoice National Director Ashley Saunders.

"The voters must have the opportunity to consider their verdict with carefully presented reasons for and against same-sex marriage.

"Heavy spending from overseas by same-sex activist sources and bullying tactics in Ireland should not be replicated in Australia.

"Current legislation empowering the Australian Bureau of Statistics should be adequate to include background detail to the question," he said.

"The postal ballot must also be compulsory, just like completing the census, so the result has popular legitimacy."

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/11627612/Spare-a-thought-for-those-who-voted-No-in-Ireland.html

FamilyVoice Australia thanks the Liberal Party for honouring its election commitment to hold a plebiscite on same-sex marriage and now calls on the Senate to enact the plebiscite.

“Parliament has already voted against same-sex marriage in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015[1] but the gay lobby refuses to accept the results. A plebiscite would allow all Australians to have their say in a private ballot, free from the bullying tactics of rainbow activists. It is the best – perhaps the only – way to resolve this divisive issue,” said FamilyVoice National Director, Ashley Saunders. 

“We are repeatedly told that public opinion favours same-sex marriage. If that is the case, same-sex marriage advocates have nothing to fear from a plebiscite. If public opinion does not favour same-sex marriage then parliament should not impose a contentious social change on Australian society. Same-sex marriage advocates cannot have it both ways. The Senate should now pave the way for a plebiscite.”

Since the intent of a plebiscite is to provide a definitive answer on the public’s view of same-sex marriage, FamilyVoice Australia argues that voting in it should be compulsory and equal funding and airtime should be mandated for each side of the argument.

Mr Saunders added, “Dean Smith’s private members’ bill on same-sex marriage should now be set aside. Mr Smith belongs to a political party that made a key election commitment to hold a plebiscite on the issue. He should cease pursuing his own agenda, show loyalty to the party that helped elect him, and support the plebiscite.”

Christian advocacy organisation FamilyVoice Australia is calling on the Prime Minister to keep faith with the voters by warning backbenchers that no parliamentary legislation will be presented by the Executive Council for Royal Assent without permission of the Australian people.

"It is not sufficient for the Prime Minister to defend the role of backbenchers," said FamilyVoice National Director Ashley Saunders.

"He must inform them that the Executive Council will not present same-sex legislation to the Governor-General for his assent. To do so would be to break faith with the Australian people who were promised a plebiscite," he said.

The call to prevent children sharing their faith at Queensland schools is an example of out-of-control bureaucracy, according to Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia.

“It is grossly improper for unelected officials in the education department to make policy without parental consultation and government approval,” said FamilyVoice National Director Ashley Saunders.

“This is out-of-control bureaucracy,” he said.

“It completely undermines the role of parents as fundamentally responsible for the education of children.

“It is unacceptable for officials to ban discussion on the Christian values that most Australian parents and school curricula for the past 200 years recognise as the basic foundation of Western society.

“Why the sudden attempt to silence this conversation? What is the department afraid of?

“In preparing students for entrance into broader society, teachers should be helping them learn to share their views in an articulate and respectful fashion, not try to shut them up.”