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Professor van der Mass, the leader of the study, stated the following regarding the Remmelink report:

I am aware that several right wing Dutch doctors have reordered our data in order to reach conclusions such as, “More than half of the euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands are being done without request of the patient”.

I hope that members who oppose euthanasia and have used this report will listen very carefully to this, because Professor van der Mass explains very clearly that that simply is not the case. He continued:

Fortunately the vast majority have interpreted our data as they should be. That is, on the whole, in the Netherlands there is reliable practice of taking decisions concerning end of life. Many doctors are certain that the fact that these issues are discussed so openly contribute very much to the quality of decision making in hospitals and in private practice. Issues can be discussed more easily with patients, families and colleagues, and there is more trust that a solution can be found that is desirable for the patient.

The idea of saying that more than half of the euthanasia is being done without request is simply not true. The figure is 0.8 per cent. It is less than one per cent.

Another compelling reason for this Assembly to pass the legislation is that it has been made demonstrably clear by the majority of people in our community that it is time for a change. In 1993 an Australia-wide poll conducted by the Roy Morgan Research Centre showed that 78 per cent of Australians were in favour of legalising this choice. In August this year the Roy Morgan Research Centre was commissioned by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (ACT Branch) to conduct a poll specifically for the ACT. I have the results here. Of those surveyed in the ACT, 75.5 per cent responded to the following question with a resounding yes:

In your opinion, if a terminally ill patient, suffering unbearably, with no chance of recovery, asks for a lethal dose so as not to wake again, should a doctor be allowed to give a lethal dose or not?

That question was worded to be consistent with the legislation. Of those that answered yes, the interesting thing is that the figure is 82.9 per cent for Labor voters; 73.6 per cent for Liberal voters; 86.4 per cent for Moore Independent voters; 80.3 per cent for Green voters; 66.5 per cent for Democrats voters; and 44.6 per cent for voters for Paul Osborne. He is the only member whose yes voters were less than a majority.

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