Euthanasia Bill in Victorian Parliament next week

23/05/2008 Australian Christian Lobby Newsletter | ACL understands the Private Member’s Bill to allow doctors to prescribe a lethal cocktail of drugs to the terminally ill will be presented in the Victorian Legislative Council as early as next week. This Bill, co-sponsored by Colleen Hartland MLC (Greens, Western Metropolitan) and Ken Smith MLA (Liberal, Bass) is written in compassionate language with many provisions for “safeguards” but nonetheless breaks new ground in the relationship between the medical profession and patients.“Do No Harm” is a prime ethical code for those in the caring professions, but this Bill rewrites this ancient precept. If you live in Victoria, please take action by visiting www.makeastand.org.au and firing off an e-mail to your local politician.

Sick and vulnerable people need to be able to trust their doctors to give them the best possible care, not to be prescribing killer drugs.

Election November 2007 | There has been some controversy this week about the absence of a response from the Greens on ACL's election website, Australia Votes. The Greens declined to respond to the ACL’s 25 questions and ACL advised the party that this would be recognised on www.AustraliaVotes.org.

… The Greens’ decision not to respond to the 25 questions suggests it does not see engaging with the Christian constituency a priority. This is a shame, given that the Greens could hold the balance of power in the Senate, especially if they receive Labor preferences, as is expected to be announced this weekend. This will give them a clear advantage over other minor parties in the race for the Senate.

ACL urges Christians to carefully examine the preference deals between the parties before casting their vote.