The End-Of-Life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill 2020 passed the Legislative Council on Tuesday November 10. It will now move to the House of Assembly. The Second Reading speeches on the Bill will take place on December 3 and 4. It is important that we write to our local MPs over the next 12 days to make sure that they hear our concerns.
We need to ensure that politicians do not feel targeted by email but, we know that sometimes it is hard to know where to start when sharing your views on issues that are so significant as Euthanasia.
We have developed the following steps for your ease and impact. It can be considered a guide below for writing an email to politicians in regards to the assisted suicide Bill.
PLEASE NOTE: the list at the bottom of this post includes politicians from a variety of parties and a variety of voting intentions on this bill.
DO: Take some time to draft your first email. Once you have an email that you’re happy with, rewrite this as many times as possible to as many politicians as possible!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Salutation (written on list of politicians table below)
Address them as “The Honourable” MP’s name.
2. Introduce yourself
- Name
- Occupation
- Say that you’re writing in regards to the End-Of-Life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill 2020.
3. Personal story – explain how this issue affects you.
4. Why oppose this Bill (choose one of the following lines of reasoning)
- The state should never sanction any action by a person conducted with the intention of hastening the death of another person.
- This Bill is completely unnecessary as palliative care can help alleviate end-of-life suffering. Better funding is needed to improve the availability and cost of palliative care.
- It is impossible to develop assisted suicide/euthanasia laws that can ever adequately protect the vulnerable.
- Doctors should focus on a patient’s health rather than giving them a lethal injection (euthanasia) or a mixture of poison to drink (assisted suicide).
- Assisted suicide and euthanasia laws inevitably expand over time.
5. Explain that this is an important issue that means a lot to you and will influence how you will vote in the next election.
MP Name | Electoral District | Email Address |
Anita Dow | Braddon | anita.dow@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Felix Ellis | Braddon | felix.ellis@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Dr Shane Broad | Braddon | shane.broad@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Roger Jaensch | Braddon | roger.jaensch@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Jeremy Rockcliff | Braddon | jeremy.rockliff@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Michelle O’Byrne | Bass | michelle.obyrne@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Michael Ferguson | Bass | michael.ferguson@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Peter Gutwein | Bass | peter.gutwein@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Jennifer Houston | Bass | jennifer.houston@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Sarah Courtney | Bass | sarah.courtney@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Guy Barnett | Lyons | guy.barnett@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Jen Butler | Lyons | jen.butler@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Mark Shelton | Lyons | mark.shelton@parliament.tas.gov.au |
John Tucker | Lyons | john.tucker@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Rebecca White | Lyons | rebecca.white@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Elise Archer | Clark | elise.archer@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Ella Haddad | Clark | ella.haddad@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Sue Hickey | Clark | sue.hickey@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Madeleine Ogilvie | Clark | madeleine.ogilvie@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Cassy O’Connor | Clark | cassy.oconnor@ parliament.tas.gov.au |
David O’Byrne | Franklin | david.obyrne@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Jacquie Petrusma | Franklin | jacquie.petrusma@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Alison Standen | Franklin | alison.standen@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Nic Street | Franklin | nic.street@parliament.tas.gov.au |
Rosalie Woodruff | Franklin | rosalie.woodruff@parliament.tas.gov.au |
I believe this bill will be open to abuse by the medical professionals. .e.g..misdiagnosed of the individual and laziness to seek appropriate treatment for those over 65..For those of us that are over 65 may have to think twice about going to Hospital as it may result in premature death because of medical staff that won’t care..or Not valuing life..because of this bill …
Assisted dieing will devalue life for all age groups not just the old people .
2nd rate medical attention will begin to be the standard for all iof us.due this bill
As a country we have legilized full term abortion and now want to legilize assisted dieing. some would call it murder…