Opinion: We deserve to have final say

Steve Baron

The sun will not rise tomorrow morning -- I can assure you of that. And, no, I am not crazy.

The sun never rises and it never sets. What you see is simply an illusion, because it takes the earth 24 hours to rotate on its axis, making it appear as if the sun rises and sets.

There are some people, knowing they have a terminal illness, who do not want to carry on seeing this illusion.

They choose to voluntarily end their lives because they have an incurable disease and they choose to do so at their own convenience and on their own terms.

Voluntary euthanasia is an important but controversial subject to many.

A few years ago, Labour MP Maryan Street introduced a private member's bill -- the End of Life Choice Bill -- which would allow those terminally ill to choose when to die.

Commenting in 2016, MP Simon O'Connor noted that the bill had produced 22,000 written submissions to the health committee -- "All of them pretty much unique -- in other words, they are not form-generated; these are individual submissions," he told Parliament.

"This is unprecedented in the history of this Parliament. Eighteen hundred people have asked to be heard by the committee -- in and of itself, again, unprecedented for this Parliament, any Parliament."

There will be a lot of MPs voting against Act Party leader David Seymour's latest End of Life Choice Bill to legalise voluntary euthanasia.

Under it, people would only be euthanised because they wanted to end their life, and this would only be after extensive scrutiny to ensure this was really the best option.

However, regardless of what New Zealanders want, our MPs -- who supposedly represent us -- will vote however they want. And that, to me, is the real weakness in our so-called representative democracy -- democracy is, indeed, an illusion.

When it comes to constitutional or moral issues like this, I do not believe any MP in the country is any more qualified than you or me to make this decision.

By all means, let us use the expertise of politicians to craft a new law around this issue. But then, let us all decide, by referendum, if we should pass that new law -- not just politicians.

Even if David Seymour's bill fails, there will be another MP who will try to introduce a new law to make voluntary euthanasia (assisted suicide) legal in New Zealand. Michael Laws and Cam Campion, as well as Maryan Street, have tried in the past.

Others, like campaigner Lesley Martin have also tried in vain. Ms Martin was sentenced to 15 months in jail in 2004 after being convicted of attempting to murder her terminally ill mother, even after the judge accepted she was simply acting out of love and compassion.

Numerous surveys have shown majority support for such an end-of-life bill.

Former Green Party MP Mike Ward made a telling point when, during a parliamentary debate, he said: "This is one of those issues on which it is appropriate to have a decision by referendum.

"That does not negate the role of Parliament -- or the public through the select committee process -- to frame legislation that addresses the fears and concerns of the proponents, as well as the opponents, of voluntary euthanasia.

"How and when we die is an uncomfortable issue for most of us, but that should not undermine our compassion for those who have accepted their own mortality and who would choose to die with dignity in the presence of the people they care about."

Dail Jones, a former National and New Zealand First MP added to the debate when he said: "A healthy democratic society is not produced by casting two ticks for three years of political tyranny.

"Only the people can create a democracy that is of the people and for the people. Under direct democracy, the Government is constitutionally bound to accept the will of the people -- no ifs, no buts, no maybes."

Surely this is an idea whose time has come. Indeed, democracy is certainly not just two ticks every three years -- feedback to: steve@stevebaron. co.nz

Steve Baron is a Wanganui-based political commentator, author and Founder of Better Democracy NZ. He holds degrees in economics and political science.