Tamworth residents to seek medical help to die after voluntary assisted dying laws pass NSW parliament

With NSW Parliament becoming the last state parliament to permit voluntary assisted dying (VAD), new laws will kick in, in a year-and-a-half.

Whether for or against the reform, every practitioner the Leader spoke to agreed: there would be locals who will seek to access it in order to die when they could.

Dying with Dignity spokesperson Shayne Higson reassured the Leader that the new laws, passed on Thursday, wouldn't discriminate between rural residents and people in the cities.

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Unlike in Victoria, people simply require two doctors, who do not need to be specialists, which will make the health option much more accessible, she said.

It probably won't be a common option, but it is an important one, she said.

Even for those that do go through the long process, the evidence from other jurisdictions is that many people who get access to the means of ending their own life won't ever use them, seeing the available option as a comfort in itself.

"As voluntary assisted dying becomes more normal, it will still just be for a very small number of people," she said.

"Compared with the number of people who actually die every year, it won't be huge numbers. Most of the time people can be helped with palliative care."

Gus Batley, an Anglican church minister who works as chaplain at Tamworth hospital, including in the palliative care Nioka Unit, is a fierce opponent of voluntary assisted dying.

But despite his opposition to the medical procedure - and the law itself - he's one minister who won't be turning away from people who want to choose when they die.

"I've talked with other chaplains around the place around this issue. We all agree that our basic goal must remain the same which is to care for the person in front of you and the family in front of you. The rules remain the same," he said.

"I got into Nioka palliative care and ... my role is not to judge but to support the family.

"It's not my family, it's their family."

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Tamworth Aboriginal Medical Service CEO, Damion Brown, said the organisation already provides palliative care, and will consider providing VAD as well.

He too is sure that locals will want to access the new healthcare option sooner or later, and encouraged every GP clinic in town to investigate whether they should provide it, too.

"People have now got a choice whereas before they couldn't choose," he said.

"It's a new decision for people. A lot of people won't be able to deal with that. People that are making those decisions themselves will be able to deal with it. They'll be at one, or solace with themselves, but the family that are around us will probably struggle."

In 18 months, residents of NSW will be legally permitted to get medical assistance to die if they're doomed to die within six months - or 12 months of a neurodegenerative disease - have the capacity to make a decision, and get sign-off by two doctors. The disease must also be causing suffering that can not be relieved and they also have to be an Australia citizen who is more than 18 years old.

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All three local MPs voted for the legislation when it first went before the lower house last year. It passed the Legislative Council on Thursday, 23 votes to 15.

Adam Marshall, the Member for the Northern Tablelands, Kevin Anderson, MP for Tamworth, and Roy Butler, MP for Barwon, all conducted polls of their electorates in advance of the conscience vote, which showed most of their constituents supported it.

In his lengthy second reading speech to parliament last year, Mr Marshall told parliament of an hour-long conversation he'd had with a man driving a chaser bin.

The man had been forced to put down his beloved 13-year-old kelpie cattle dog, 'Digger', after he had been run over. A vet could have operated on the dog, but he'd never walk again.

"He said, 'Why is it that we can make that choice for our beloved animal, but I cannot make that choice or my mother cannot make that choice? Why is it that cannot happen?'" Mr Marshall told parliament.

"'Yet, if the bill passes parliament, Adam, and you support it, instead of us making that decision for someone else, they can make that decision for themselves.'"

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The biggest concern by both opponents and supporters is that VAD will become a crutch for an inadequate palliative care system.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Roy Butler, who voted yes on the laws, told parliament last year that the state needed to spend more on the service.

"We must never allow a lack of palliative care to be a factor in a person's decision to consider voluntary assisted dying," he said.

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