Nationals MLC Trevor Khan backs Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, in second chance at ending injustice inflicted on his father

Not many get one chance to resolve a great injustice, but after leading a failed attempt at law reform in 2017, Trevor Khan was this week among the front rank of politicians sponsoring a second attempt.

In 2009, a medical catastrophe forced Mr Khan to choose between following the law, or the wishes of his dad to end his life with dignity.

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"My father was a general practitioner in Wollongong," he said.

"He always had a view that he never wanted to go out badly. And had expressed a view that if he developed a debilitating illness that he would take his own life. For most of my adult life I had known that he didn't want to experience prolonged suffering."

He didn't get his way.

He had a stroke during preparations for a colonoscopy, which left him physically bed-ridden, incontinent and seriously intellectually disabled as well - and unable to end his own life without help.

"He had requested both my myself and my sisters to help him die and we refused, thinking, amongst other things, that he would die quickly. He lay in a hospital bed like that for three-and-a-half years. You wouldn't have wished his end on your worst enemy," he said.

"It left me very torn for a very long period of time. Still does. Of course, part of it is because it went on for so long. It just was terrible."

Five years after his death, in 2017, the Nationals MLC led a bid to pass legislation permitting and regulating voluntary assisted dying. It failed.

On Thursday, the Nationals MLC was among 28 parliamentarians to sponsor the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, a second attempt at the same goal. No bill before state parliament has ever had as many co-sponsors.

Mr Khan said the 2021 legislation, tabled in parliament by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, hasn't changed much from the first one - but the context has.

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In 2017, NSW would have been among the first states to legislate voluntary assisted dying.

If the 2021 bill becomes law, it would be the last to legislate.

In the meantime, the experience of other states shows that the predictions of doom from the legislations' opponents aren't real, he said.

Nonetheless, it's still going to be a tight vote, he said.

"I think I could only say I have reasonable confidence. As in all these exercises there's a long way to go," he said.

"What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that whether this bill passes or not, voluntary assisted dying will become a reality in NSW within a relatively short period of time. Because it's not going to go away as an issue, it reflects what the community wants. And it will become law in due course."

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If the second shot succeeds, Mr Khan said his celebration will be relatively muted.

"This is about doing your job professionally and competently as best as you can," he said.

"You can leave the chamber, maybe leave the building and have a quiet drink and think, well, that's another tick on the bucket list."

Ironically, the terms of the new bill are so tight, Mr Khan's dad would not have been eligible to die even if it had been in force - because he was so sick he wouldn't have been judged mentally capable of making the decision.

He rejected the argument that shows the bill will leave many out and should go even further.

"There are other people in different circumstances to my father who would be assisted by the legislation," he said.

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