Free Press

ACT’s regular bulletin

Assisted Dying
David Seymour has entered a Bill into the ballot that would allow mentally competent adults with a terminal illness diagnosed to be fatal within six months, or a grievous and irremediable condition in an advanced state of decline the choice to ask a doctor (who has agreed to play a role under the bill) to provide or administer the means to end their life at a time of their choosing. You can read the full details here: www.lifechoice.org.nz

The Democratic Thing to Do
New Zealanders are overwhelmingly in favour of Assisted Dying being allowed in New Zealand. An ACT-commissioned poll by David Farrar’s Curia Research found 66 per cent in favour, with 38 per cent strongly in favour. Only 13 per cent are strongly opposed, with the remainder either neutral or somewhat opposed.

What you can Do
If and when the Bill is drawn (could be next month, could be next year – on average it should take about a year to draw a Bill) it will be a matter of counting to 61 votes out of 121 in Parliament. Free Press understands the Bill has a good chance of passing, but you can help by emailing your MP from this handy feature of the website:http://www.lifechoice.org.nz/email_your_mp. You can also submit your personal story or perspective on the issue here: http://www.lifechoice.org.nz/your_stories.

A Modest and Sensible Bill
It is the details that concern fair minded Kiwis, and this Bill is modest and sensible. It has been praised by (among others) the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, Matt Vickers, National Minister Nikki Kaye, rising star Chris Bishop, and former New Zealand First Deputy Leader Peter Brown who very graciously said the Bill is better than the one he submitted (and lost by only two votes) in 2003.

Jumping the Gun
Steven Joyce said the Bill was too simple for a complex matter. He is entitled to that view but it would have been more credible had he waited another hour until the Bill’s release. Joyce can be forgiven because he is not focused on the issue, unforgivable are those who seek to deliberately mislead the public.

Brazen Dishonesty
The Bible says thou shalt not lie but some assisted dying opponents must think they’re specially exempted. If they’re not breaking the letter of the commandments they are certainly outside their spirit. We do not say this lightly, the dishonesty in their campaign is breath taking. This week Free Press is getting stuck in and giving them a good kicking. We respect differences of opinion but it is insulting to mislead the public the way that theirprotect.org.nz website does.

1.8 per cent of all deaths in Belgium?
They claim 1.8 per cent of all deaths in Belgium are deliberately caused by doctors without the patient’s explicit consent. That’s the nightmare of legalised assisted dying, right? Well, it’s from a study that concludes: “its occurrence has not risen since the legalization of euthanasia in Belgium. On the contrary, the rate dropped from 3.2% in 1998 to 1.8% in 2007. In the Netherlands, the rate dropped slightly after legalization, from 0.7% to 0.4%.” In other words, all countries have people who die without explicitly asking at the hands of health professionals administering palliative care. This rate has actually dropped in Belgium as a result Assisted Dying being under the law. The study concludes the opposite from the point that Family First attempt to make from it. Perhaps more amazingly, they claim their source is the well-funded Maxim Institute.

The 656 per cent Increase
Some amateur hour misleading statistics. Since the State of Oregon legalised assisted dying in 1998, the number of people seeking an assisted death has increased by 656 per cent, the protect.org.nz website breathlessly reports. They are technically correct, it has increased from 16 the first year the law was introduced and was 105 last year. Approximately 30,000 people die in Oregon each year, so now 29,895 people die each year without assisted dying whereas it used to be 29,984.

40 per cent worried about burdening family?
Family First claims: Forty per cent of patients who requested assisted dying in 2014 did so out of concern for being a burden on their family[22]; only 13% did so in 1998[23]. Why the different reference numbers? The reference at [22] tells us that it’s never been 13. 40 per cent has been the average for every year since 1998. They use a different data source to get 13 per cent only because is suits their story.

What the 40 Actually Means
If 40 per cent of those choosing assisted dying in Oregon did so because they were worried about burdening their family that would be truly concerning, but is it? Turns out this figure emerges because people who choose Assisted Dying in Oregon are asked to ‘tick all that apply.’ Since 1998 the concerns have been: Losing Autonomy (91.5 per cent), Less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (88.7), Loss of dignity (79.3), losing control of bodily functions (50.1), Burden on Family, Friends, Caregivers (40.0) Inadequate pain control or concern about it (24.7) and, finally, Financial Implications of Treatment (3.2 per cent). That’s a total of 377.5 per cent. In other words, far from being a rising motivation for choosing assisted dying, concern about others has been a secondary concern at for a minority of people at a consistent level for 17 years in Oregon.

We Could Go On
So far Free Press hasn’t found a single claim by these outfits that stands up to scrutiny. We have been surprised by their cavalier undermining of debate on an important topic, and by our own anger at it.

Insert Dunne Pun Here
Peter Dunne is barely on the same side as the Government, let alone a sensible policy agenda. He is almost single-handedly preventing sensible RMA reform. He has supported a succession of dopey opposition private members’ Bills, including a stunt Bill to make Partnership Schools follow the New Zealand curriculum despite them already doing so and a Bill to apply the OIA to Under-Secretaries despite them holding no official information that Ministers can’t already be OIA’d for.

ACT to Contest Ohariu?
Like Epsom, Ohariu voters are aspirational, successful, and understand the power of using their candidate vote to get an extra MP into Parliament. The voters there might well be open to an energetic ACT candidate. National might be open to cooperating with a candidate who actually believes in the National Party’s values.

The National Party’s Values
In good times the Nats’ values are: “The National Party believes in a property-owning democracy. … We believe in the maximum degree of personal freedom and the maximum degree of individual choice for our people. We believe in the least interference necessary with individual rights, and the least possible degree of state interference.” ACT’s role is to make these values ring true in National governments.

A Speech to the House
Many complain about the standards of debate in Parliament. If you’re in that camp, watch David Seymour calmly and clinically refute Phil Goff’s attack on Partnership Schools Kura Hourua here.

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