Many news outlets are reporting that Victoria's Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Act comes into effect in mid 2019, and how other Parliaments around the country are likely to implement similar reforms. Moves are afoot in Western Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland. Marshall Perron, former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and architect of the first VAD law in Australia, has written this media release to highlight what happens at the ballot box to candidates who oppose VAD. The result wasn't pretty for opponents of VAD law reform.

Victoria has shown what happens at the ballot box to candidates who oppose VAD

Parliamentarians traditionally shy away from supporting voluntary assisted dying (VAD), believing it is politically toxic to do so. Victoria, under the Andrews government, has changed all that by showing the opposite to be true.

After legislating VAD – Victoria is the first Australian state to do so – Andrews won a thumping victory at the 2018 Victoria State election.

Former NT Chief Minister Marshall Perron said there is a common perception that the political class has not been listening to its constituents. VAD is a classic example.

There were multiple reasons for Victoria’s election result, and VAD was clearly one of them. With unprecedented 80-85% public support, it should be no surprise that Victorian candidates who supported VAD polled more strongly.

In the previous parliament, almost all Liberal members voted against the VAD legislation. The party suffered an average 6.04% swing against it in the State election.

In addition, two of the staunchest Liberal opponents of the VAD bill lost their seats. In the lower house, Robert Clark was tossed out as the Member for Box Hill, a seat he’d comfortably held for a quarter century. In the upper house, Inga Peulich was rejected by voters in South Eastern Metropolitan, a Region she’d represented for three terms.

Dying With Dignity Victoria and Andrew Denton ran targeted campaigns focusing on four electorates – Burwood, Albert Park, Bentleigh and Prahran.  They used Robo calls, advertising, social media and face to face meetings to inform voters about where their candidates stood on VAD.

The Liberal candidates (one a sitting member) in these four electorates all opposed VAD. They suffered an average 10.1% drop in primary votes compared with the average drop in the Liberal vote overall of 6.04%.

The Liberal sitting member lost his seat. In the other three seats the sitting Labor and Greens members, who all supported VAD, were returned with significantly increased votes. The results for these four electorates were, compared to the 2014 election:

• In Burwood, Liberal member Grahame Watt lost his seat with a 6.47% swing against. Labor candidate and VAD supporter Will Fowles was elected.
• In Albert Park, Labor member and VAD supporter Martin Foley was returned with a massive 10.17% increase (two party preferred). The Liberal primary vote dropped 10.24%.
• In Bentleigh, Labor member and VAD supporter Nick Staikos was returned with a massive 11.27% increase. The Liberal primary vote dropped 12.59%.
• In Prahran, Greens member and VAD supporter Sam Hibbens was returned with a 7.0% increase. The Liberal vote dropped 10.29%.
   

Mr Perron, who introduced the world’s first successful VAD legislation in the Northern Territory in 1995 said candidates can increasingly expect to lose support when they ignore the wishes of the voters they seek to represent.

In a contest tighter than the Victorian election turned out to be, a handful of seats retained or lost on VAD could determine the outcome.

Marshall Perron

Former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory