voluntary euthanasia at the doorstep

Last Wednesday, I spent the evening and the early hours of Thursday (my wedding anniversary) sitting silently in the gallery of the South Australian Legislative Council (Upper House) listening to proceedings. I know, it's not the most exciting way to spend an evening, but the debate that night was incredibly important.

That was the night when the latest attempt at introducing voluntary euthanasia in SA was debated. You know, I've worked against more than ten euthanansia bills over the years - but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that night. For the first time over all these years, I was genuinely scared.

For the first time I was forced to confront as reality what I already knew in theory: that the Upper House of the SA Parliament was getting closer to the time when it would say 'Yes' to euthanasia. Only one more vote and the SA Upper House would have been the first Australian legislature since 1996 (NT) to give euthanasia the nod.

One more vote! And that vote is closer than you might think! In March 2010 two anti-euthanasia MLCs will retire. Their potential replacements are understood to think differently. There's nothing that the major parties can do now to fix this problem. Family First will see their member returned and, good as that is, it won't fix the problem.

The Democratic Labor Party will run 'Above the Line' candidates for the SA Upper House (as well as Lower House candidates). Make the DLP a priority for your vote and you will be making sure that your vote counts on euthanasia.

We'll be going all out to get our candidate over the line.