The WA state election will be held on 8th March 2025.
This is the perfect opportunity to raise community awareness about the improvements that are needed to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019.
Prior to the election, DWDWA sent a message to each MP to ask if he or she would support a call for another cross-party, parliamentary inquiry into the amendments to the Act that are needed to provide equity of access to Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) in WA. View the survey results here.
After the election DWDWA will contact all the MPs in both houses of parliament to repeat this request.
A few examples of such amendments are:
- the replacement of the time to death criterion, which often causes prolonged suffering to those with neurodegenerative conditions;
- the removal of the residency criterion, which applies even where the applicant for VAD has a close connection with the state. This requirement not only causes hardship and suffering, but has been rendered redundant by Voluntary Assisted Dying now being available in every Australia state and in the Australian Capital Territory;
- provisions to deal with institutional conscientious objection in health, aged care and palliative care facilities, that make VAD difficult or impossible for a person to access when they are at their most vulnerable; and
- augmenting the workforce (including by increasing the number and the authorised roles of nurse practitioners and senior nurses) to deal with the increasing demand for VAD.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, there is the imperative to find a way to provide safe access to VAD for people with dementia.
For more information about DWDWA’s position on this issue, please see RESOURCES/Dementia on this website.
A LONG GAME
Change does not happen overnight. Many people in the community think that the passage of the VAD legislation in December 2019 was the end of the story. They do not know about the improvements to the Act that are needed and the dismal failure of the recent statutory review (see RESOURCES/ VAD Act Stage 1 Review on this website).
We need to re-engage the public interest and support shown in 2019, and transform that support into action, with two goals in mind. The first is that the parliament set up the new joint select committee, as mentioned above. The second is that the next statutory review in 2028 is genuine and comprehensive, and that its recommendations are implemented.
CALL TO ACTION
You, DWDWA members and supporters, are the backbone of the 88% of the community who wanted voluntary assisted dying in Australia, and who worked your hearts out in so many ways to ensure that it happened. That campaign lasted 2 years, and you were steadfast throughout, and triumphant at the end.
Once again, we need you – this time to demonstrate that there is strong community support for changes to the VAD Act and – through your stories – to provide the government with evidence of the need for that change.
For further information and to see DWDWA’s recommendations for improvements to the Act see RESOURCES/VAD Act Stage 2 Review on this website.
What you can do
The campaign planning has just begun, and DWDWA will be in touch by email to let you know as specific goals arise. From time to time we will ask you to contact your MPs and provide an easy way of doing this.
In the meantime, these are some of the ways in which you can help:
Your stories
Please tell us your stories if at any time you or your loved ones have an experience of VAD. To do this, please email DWDWA President Steve Walker on [email protected] or call him on 0411 431 091.
Personal stories have been shown to be the most powerful way of communicating the tragedy of the suffering some people endure at the end of life, and the importance of having a choice to die with dignity.
Stories about difficulties of any kind that you have experienced – for example the eligibility criteria, misinformation, delays in the process, institutional conscientious objection, last minute loss of capacity – these are important to raise awareness of why the VAD Law needs to change to provide equity of access to VAD for all Western Australians.
And of course good news stories are important, to demonstrate that in many ways the law is working as it should.
Spread the word: Use the media, and social media, to tell those stories to the community. Write letters, go on radio, appear on TV if you have the chance. Tell your friends and families and, if they support the cause, ask them to help spread the word.
Donate: Please support DWDWA’s work with donations. What we can achieve will depend on the funds we have available. Click here to donate or click here to Make a Bequest.