IAN Wood became an advocate for voluntary euthanasia after he saw a photo of a woman who suffered for eight years from inoperable nasal cancer.
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He became interested in the cause after he watched his mother die of Alzheimer's disease.
"Alzheimer's is one of the cruelest diseases," Mr Wood said.
"You can see the person's personality changing and there's nothing you can do about it."
But it was the photo of Chantal Sebire, who spent eight years in pain, that motivated him to advocate for voluntary euthanasia.
"Her hands looked like my mother's hands," Mr Wood said.
"They looked like they were pleading for help."
Mr Wood has since become the national co-ordinator for Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Euthanasia.
Members of the group believe that love and compassion should dictate that the legal option of an assisted death be a right for all Australians with a hopeless or terminal illness.
The closest thing to voluntary euthanasia that exists in Australia is palliative sedation.
Palliative sedation is defined by the centre for palliative care as the monitored use of medications intended to induce a state of decreased or absent awareness (unconsciousness) in order to relieve the burden of otherwise intractable suffering in a manner that is ethically acceptable to the patient, family and health care providers.
"Terminal sedation is a grey area and it's the last resort in palliative care, to put the patient in a coma until they die of starvation or dehydration," Mr Wood said.
"It's legal Australia wide and accepted by the Catholic Church."
Voluntary euthanasia is legal in a handful of countries around the world, including Switzerland and some parts of America. In that time, Mr Wood said one third of patients had not filled their script for the drugs that would end their lives.
"When it comes to voluntary euthanasia the critical word is choice," Mr Wood said.
"It's more like an insurance policy.
"They've got it there if they need it, but it gives great peace of mind."
Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Euthanasia support any political candidate who has publicly stated they supported voluntary euthanasia.
"As such, we obviously support the Voluntary Euthanasia Party," Mr Wood said. "If you vote one for the VEP in the upper house, you can give your second choice to your normal party because they don't have preferential voting."