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The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill NSW 2017 is expected to pass in the Legislative Council this month, before being handed down to the Legislative Assembly in November.

This bill would make both assisted suicide and euthanasia legal in cases where a doctor believes someone has 12 months or less left to live. This will only apply to NSW residents who are 25 years old or older.

“Legislation in which the State authorises and supports some people committing suicide and medical practitioners deliberately acting to terminate human life sends very puzzling messages to the community: namely that some suicides are not only acceptable, but doctors should assist them to occur,” says Professor Michael Quinlan, Dean of the School of Law at Notre Dame university, “All in all this is a very bad bill”.

This bill has been drafted by an unofficial working group of politicians including MLCs Trevor Khan, Mehreen Faruqi, Lynda Voltz, and MPs Alex Greenwich and Lee Evans.

“Parliamentarians would be well advised to listen to geriatricians and palliative care physicians, the doctors who actually care for frail and dying patients.  We are not asking for assisted suicide. We do not need euthanasia to care for our patients. We are asking for better funded palliative medicine and geriatric medicine services” says Dr John Obeid, geriatrician


Assisted suicide and euthanasia are currently illegal throughout Australia in all six states and both territories. The Australian Medical Association (AMA), the professional association for Australian doctors and medical students, has declared its opposition to changing the law to legalise physician-assisted suicide.

FamilyVoice, working in coalition with the Support Not Suicide campaign, will continue to advocate for better palliative care and support for all NSW residents, as opposed to allowing our medical professionals to assist in the suicide of their patients.

FamilyVoice Australia has released videos to counter the “shallow and superficial” Yes campaign on same-sex marriage.

“Advocates for same-sex marriage are bombarding voters with expensive advertising that makes no contribution to public policy,” he said.

“Australians will not be bullied or herded into approving anything,” he said.

“If the proponents of same-sex marriage have good public policy to justify redefining marriage, they should express their views without relying on flimsy and glossy marketing.

“Shallow and superficial campaigning discredits and denigrates the Australian voter,” he said.

FamilyVoice videos released today feature former homosexual activist James Parker, who provides public policy arguments in favour of heterosexual marriage.

Click here WhyVoteNo.org.au/BigDeal to view the videos.

Authorised by A Saunders, FamilyVoice Australia, Adelaide

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.”