Page 4381 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 19 November 1991
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EUTHANASIA
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MR SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Mr Moore proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
Euthanasia.
MR MOORE (3.24): I raise this matter of public importance today - the notion of voluntary euthanasia and the concept of dying with dignity - because I support the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia. It follows my unswerving belief in the right of human beings to freedom of choice. Of course, that freedom of choice is, if you like, the ultimate choice.
I understand that this is a very unusual thing to do, certainly in our parliament. It is the first time that a matter of public importance has had a single word as the issue for debate. The reason I have the single word "euthanasia" as the issue to be discussed is that I believe that it would be premature for this parliament to raise the matter as one where we are seeking to come up with a series of conclusions. I believe that the debate on this issue has not yet been carried out broadly enough in the community, and raising the issue as a matter of public importance rather than as legislation is an appropriate way to begin to discuss it and to have people sound out their ideas on euthanasia.
"Euthanasia" derives from two Greek words - "eu" and "thanatos". "Eu", meaning "good", is the way the word appears in "eucharist" or good Christ - and some people here would be familiar with that - and in "evangelist", where the "v" sound is taken on and in that case means a good messenger. "Thanatos" is the word for death. So, we are talking about a good dying. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines "euthanasia" as the bringing about of a gentle and easy death, but under Australian common law it means murder. There is a very great difference in attitude.
It is very important at the beginning of this debate to distinguish euthanasia from the suicide that occurs in a fit of depression or when a person is a manic depressive. That is a very different issue from the one we are talking about. It is important for me at this stage to quote statements from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New South Wales, and I acknowledge that some of the comments in my speech will come from their material. I quote directly:
In spite of improvements of living conditions and great advances of medical knowledge in recent decades, the chance that there will be a time of substantial incapacity and suffering before a
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