Please sign our parliamentary petition 

The Queensland Government has promised an assisted suicide Bill in May, yes legislation that would effectively target the sick, disabled and elderly, and turn doctors from healers to killers. It's absolutely horrendous. In response Cherish Life has lodged the below parliamentary petition urging the government to dramatically increase palliative care funding in Queensland by a factor of 3.5 times, which is urgently needed to properly service our state, according to Palliative Care Queensland.

The petition also urges the government to send the "voluntary assisted dying" legislation, once it is received from from the Queensland Law Reform Commission in May, to a Parliamentary Committee for at least six months to allow for Queensland-wide community consultation. 

The pro-life Parliamentary e-petition is below, please click HERE to sign. 

Need for urgent increase to palliative care funding and for full and proper scrutiny of the "voluntary assisted dying" Bill by a Parliamentary Committee 

Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House:

 (a) the gross underfunding of palliative care in Queensland. Palliative Care Queensland has called on the Queensland Government to increase the annual palliative care budget by $275 million on top of the $110 million a year currently allocated. Disappointingly, the Government’s promised increase of $28.5 million a year is completely inadequate. A funding increase of $275 million a year equates to just over $1 per person a week - a small investment for every Queenslander to have access to a fundamental human right.

(b) the Government’s promise to introduce “voluntary assisted dying” (that is euthanasia or assisted suicide) legislation by the end of May 2021, without any assurance of full and proper scrutiny by a Parliamentary Committee. Queenslanders have the right to have detailed input on a Bill of this nature, including key stakeholders such as palliative care specialists, oncologists, the Australian Medical Association and faith leaders.

 Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to call on the Government to:

(a) urgently address Queensland's palliative care deficit, so dying patients and their families can have access to palliative care medical professionals who provide crucial and specialist end-of-life care, to which all Queenslanders are entitled.

(b) follow the usual Standing Orders when the "voluntary assisted dying" Bill is introduced to Parliament, by referring it to the relevant Parliamentary Committee for a period of at least six months to ensure the process is not rushed and to allow for proper Queensland-wide community consultation.