VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING ACT — IMPLEMENTATION
300. Mr C.J. TALLENTIRE to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's landmark legislation that will
give Western Australians who are terminally ill the right to end their
suffering at a time of their choosing. Can the minister update the house on the
process that has been underway for the past 18 months to implement voluntary
assisted dying, ahead of its introduction next Thursday on 1 July?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I
thank the member for the question. This is the last opportunity we have before
the legislation is enacted and comes into play on 1 July. It is a very
exciting moment in Western Australia's history. In December 2019, we
passed the voluntary assisted dying legislation. Can I just take this moment to
note that today, the South Australian Parliament has also passed voluntary assisted dying legislation. It is now the
third jurisdiction to implement this important law reform and we welcome it to
the fold. Early last week, the WA voluntary assisted dying implementation
leadership team had its final meeting to finalise arrangements for this law to
commence on 1 July. I want to thank everyone in the leadership team for
the work that they have done to bring these laws into being. Through the
engagement with stakeholders, the implementation leadership team has undertaken
several projects to ensure a smooth transition process come 1 July.
I will outline the key areas. The
voluntary assisted dying care navigator service will put in place the people
who will be charged with the responsibility of assisting people to navigate the
complex route that they will have to participate in. There are practitioner
guidelines, and I want to thank the Victorian government for all the guidance
it provided us with, as we used a lot of its base documents for providing
information. The WA Voluntary Assisted Dying Board's ICT system will
assist practitioners, regulators and everyone involved in the process to have
the proper information technology support. The WA voluntary assisted dying
statewide pharmacy service has been developed to ensure safe and appropriate
access to the voluntary assisted dying substance. The implementation conference, which I have reported on before, was
held on 22 and 23 May. Nearly 200 people attended the conference in
person and online to get information about how they could participate in the
process. Medical practitioners and nurse
practitioners seeking to participate in the voluntary assisted dying process
were able to check on their eligibility. I am pleased to say that we now
have 78 practitioners who have applied to access the training. The first of
those completed their training earlier this week, and 25 are currently involved
in the course at the moment to be involved in the voluntary assisted dying
process.
[Interruption.]
Mr R.H. COOK: This is the
last time that we will have an opportunity to acknowledge the great work that
has gone into putting these laws in place. On behalf of everyone in Parliament,
I thank the implementation leadership group and everyone within the department
who has worked to bring our laws into being. I wish everyone all the very best
as they take these laws forward from 1 July.
The SPEAKER: Attorney
General, I hope you have found the off button for your iPad.