True to her word, South Australian Labor backbencher and Member for the seat of Ashford, Steph Key has tabled yet another bill in yet another attempt to see euthanasia become law in an Australian state.The exact number of bills tabled in the South Australian Parliament over the Last decade or so varies depending on whether or not you would count identical bills introduced simultaneously in both chambers as one or two and whether or not other defeated measures - claimed by supporters not to be about euthanasia - were, well, euthanasia and/or assisted suicide bills in disguise (which, by the way, they were!). My reckoning puts the number at around a dozen.Normally when an MP introduces a bill in short succession after another failed attempt; he or she will often make mention of the fact that they had heard their colleagues' concerns about inadequacies in the previous bill and that this new bill was actually a 'new-and-improved' version. Some spruiking in recent years has added the term 'robust' to safeguards (no doubt safeguards made especially for tough Australian conditions!). The Hon Bob Such MP, who passed away after a short illness in October 2014, was a great one for spruiking his latest bill. And why not? Like much of life, getting a bill to a majority vote is as much about selling the message as it is about anything else.The focus of the argy-bargy is usually about the 'safeguards'; the clauses by which a regimen seeks to protect vulnerable people from risk of abuse under said law. Some deny that risks of abuse exist. Others, like Bob Such and now Steph Key wisely acknowledge the risk and have sought to mitigate against such risks or at least address the matter. In her Second Reading speech earlier this month on the matter of safeguards, Key mentions how, at a forum in 2015, the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Marshall Perron (architect and mover of the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act - the only successful bill ever in this nation), observed that, 'moves to include more safeguards had the effect of making the law so complex and contradictory that it was unworkable.' SA Upper House MP, Mark Parnell made similar observations in summing up a debate in 2010. And it's true: any move away from the status quo involves some level of risk and the further we move away from that starting point, the more risk we would need to accept. Key goes on to assert that, in her bill, the Voluntary Euthanasia Bill 2016, 'The safeguardsâ�¦are captured in the definitions 'unbearable' and 'hopeless' and their careful application to each request for voluntary euthanasia.'There are a few 'out-of-the-ordinary' clauses in Key's latest bill that I will address later. At this point I would simply observe that the normal understanding of safeguards are about creating checks and balances, reporting obligations and limiting who might qualify for euthanasia and/or assisted suicide and not so much the meaning of adjectives or adverbs such as 'unbearable' and 'hopeless'. As Key admits, only the individual person seeking to be made dead can say what is 'unbearable' and what is not.Here's how the bill expresses it: 4â��Unbearable and hopeless suffering (1) For the purposes of this Act, a person will be taken to be subject to unbearable and hopeless suffering ifâ��(a) the person is suffering from a medical condition (whether terminal or not); and (b) the person is subject to mental or physical suffering or both attributable wholly or in part to the medical condition; and (c) the suffering is unbearable to the person, determined in accordance with subsection (2); and (d) the suffering is hopeless, determined in accordance with subsection (4). Continue reading

New Euthanasia Bill to be tabled in South Australian Parliament. The Private Member's Business Notice Paper for the House of Assembly in the South Australian Parliament lists, as number one, the latest bill by backbencher, Steph Key MP. The listing says she will, 'introduce a Bill for an Act to provide for choices at the end of life.'She is not talking about choices but, rather, about one choice: to be made dead. Under Ms Key's bill, this will be either by euthanasia or by the 'self-administration of voluntary euthanasia'; a clumsy and inaccurate description of assisted suicide. Continue reading

US Lawyer and activist, Wesley Smith comments on Steph Key's new 'Living Will for dying' bill. See original post . Continue reading

South Australian MP and euthanasia advocate Steph Key MP announced today that she wants to be able to create 'options' in Living Wills for people to be able to choose death. 'Living Wills'- once used to describe what are now known more accurately as 'Advance Care Directives', are instruments where a person can make a determination, in advance, of what type of care they want and/ or reject at the end-of-life. The use of the word 'Living' in this context simply modifies the normal understanding of a Last Will and Testament. Key's use, however, seems to be a deliberate and macabre play between living and dying.Advance Care Directives can be useful instruments. They can also be problematic in situations where the request is poorly worded or does not account for unforeseen circumstances. Regardless, they were never intended to be used for the person to direct that they be killed. Continue reading

 In South Australia, where euthanasia bills grow like weeds (or so it seems) the latest of four attempts to legalise the practice in this parliament alone, was dealt a critical blow this week. In a joint letter, the SA branch of the Australian Medical Association and the SA Society condemned the bill in what could only be said to be an unusual, but exceedingly welcome, move.To anyone who has not followed the debate, this might not seem to be news at all.  No-one expects the AMA to think otherwise and it is always possible that senior lawyers might see errors in the drafting or effect of a bill where others might not. Continue reading

It has been interesting, and more than a little frustrating to read the comments by some South Australian MPs to the effect that the bill put forward by backbencher, Steph Key isn't about euthanasia but, rather, about giving added protection under the law for doctors going about their normal business (or words to that effect). It might seem obvious, but it needs to be stated that all legislation is about what the bill says and what the bill does; not what anyone tells us it will do.  A cynical retort to that point might be to say, "Well, in that case, why should we listen to what you say it's about?"  Fair point, but judge for yourselves from what follows.But before we look at the legislation itself, just think for a minute: if the bill isn't about euthanasia, why is Phillip Nitschke in Adelaide so often?  Why is he saying that  Continue reading

In a surprise move, the euthanasia bill proposed by backbencher, Steph Key MP passed through the SA lower house 'on the voices' today.  We need to act quickly and decisively to put a stop to this latest threat. CLICK HERE for everything you need to get involved and to get things moving in your local church and community.July 2011: New Green Senators change the game Continue reading

Last week's headline in the South Australian Advertiser:   was a welcome, if not entirely true, statement.Bill to allow euthenasia (sic) in limited circumstances looks likely to fail in Parliament Continue reading

Debate on Steph Key's Euthanasia bill stifled by the stench of subterfuge in the house. The latest euthanasia attempt in the SA Parliament was introduced by backbencher, Steph Key on the 10th of March.  Styled on Health Minister, John Hill's draft from late 2010, the bill would usher in euthanasia on demand and an open season on patients.  The only protection offered by this latest 'kill bill' is for doctors.  Apparently patients don't rate.Private Member's bills such as this usually move slowly with little time allocated during the sitting week and each speech usually followed by an adjournment for either another MP or the completion of the current speech to be heard on another sitting day.  But all conventions were overridden on Thursday the 24th of March when the bill's main supporters rushed through the second reading stage without any opportunity for a dissenting voice to be heard. Continue reading

March 2011 Update and Action Request: As reported earlier, Member for Ashford, Steph Key tabled a new euthanasia bill on the 10th of March.  This effectively replaces her earlier bill that was a duplicate of the Parnell Bill defeated last year in the Upper House.The  Continue reading