Southern Highlands Dying with Dignity (DWD) supporters have successfully launched their on-the-ground, grassroots campaign in Bowral on Saturday April 17.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The first Dying with Dignity stall held at Corbett Plaza gathered more than 460 signatures on the DWD petition calling on members of NSW Parliament to work collaboratively on the upcoming voluntary assisted dying Bill.
The Southern Highlands community campaign followed an announcement by the independent member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich MP, confirming a timeline that would see the NSW VAD legislation presented to Parliament in September, following release of a draft Bill around July.
Their next stall will be held at Mittagong Market Place on Saturday May 1, between 9.30am and 3pm. Supporters are hoping more local residents will come and talk to stall volunteers about the issue and also sign the petition.
Long-time local Jan Edwards is one of the organisers.
Jan is determined to voice her support for law reform having experienced the traumatic death of her husband Tim.
"My husband was a vital, passionate and useful person. By useful I mean that he was always doing something to improve our world," she said.
"At 65 years old, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare, asbestos related cancer which is always fatal. Those diagnosed usually have 12-24 months to live, depending on the effectiveness of chemotherapy at slowing the disease progress. Tim lasted 12 months from diagnosis."
"They were the worst 12 months of our lives. Tim was, and is, very much loved. He was desperate to die with dignity and on terms that would minimise unnecessary suffering for him and the pain caused to his family. He knew that the last several months of his life would entail progressive pain and suffocation from the disease.
"He didn't want his family to live through that. But we did. There was no alternative to allow him to die peacefully and for his family to feel at peace with his end. The legacy of his dying is a family that remains fractured by the trauma three years after his passing. It didn't have to be this way."
According to Dying with Dignity President, Penny Hackett, the community overwhelmingly supports voluntary assisted dying laws passed in NSW in this term of parliament.
"Laws are in place in Victoria, about to come into effect in Western Australia, have just passed in Tasmania and are on their way in South Australia and Queensland. The question is - why not NSW?" she said.
"We are already seeing incredible momentum in the grassroots support for voluntary assisted dying laws in NSW. We have more than 36,000 signatures on our petition and that figure is growing every day."
New analysis of over 155,000 survey responses reveals that every electorate in NSW overwhelmingly supports voluntary assisted dying law reform. This includes huge majority support among Coalition voters and those with religious faith.
According to the data collected via ABC Vote Compass in the lead up to the 2019
Federal Election, 78 per cent of Wollondilly voters support the introduction of VAD laws and only 10 per cent oppose.
Dying with Dignity NSW President Penny Hackett said it was incredible to see overwhelming support for voluntary assisted dying laws, "even in blue ribbon Liberal seats."
"There is not one electorate in NSW, or the entire country, that doesn't have majority support for voluntary assisted dying laws," she said.
"The data tells us something that most of us already knew - that support for voluntary assisted dying transcends political and religious ideologies.
"This issue is not going away, and the longer it takes for voluntary assisted dying law reform to take place in NSW - the more people will be forced to suffer bad deaths or take matters into their own hands, creating unnecessary trauma for all involved."
The Dying with Dignity NSW petition, launched in December 2020, can be found here: www.dwdnsw.org.au/petition
Analysis of the Vote Compass data can be accessed via this website: https://www.dyingforchoice.com/VoxPop_VAD_NSW/
