Why Not Labour Make This Compassionate Gesture for Euthanasia Law?

What a dysfunctional democracy we have where our individual rights are abrogated in Parliament, not protected, by a dufferish old coiffed codgerati scared witless of a fairy tale God.

Unfortunately David Seymour’s private member bill to legislate euthanasia in New Zealand didn’t get pulled from the lottery of the ballot today. I think it’s crazy something so important is left to a lottery, but this is authoritarian democracy. So given we’ll never see such a basic right from the National Government, I’m calling for a grand gesture from the ballot winners.

For those who would say this isn’t how Parliament works, I say this is death and pain we’re dealing with - what is more important than the humanity existing in those two issues. And on these primal matters, on protecting rights to our bodies and our health outcomes, then thanks to the cruel historical Catholicism working like a virus in the National Party, Parliament obviously doesn’t work.

For David Stephens, for Helen Kelly, for all those who would avail themselves of a death with dignity in this century:

Here's a grand gesture to those truly suffering: 1 of the 4 MPs with a bill drawn from today's ballot hold back so Seymour's euthanasia 1/2

— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) October 15, 2015

@MarkHubbard33 bill can be debated? For David Stephens Helen Kelly and every other soul who needs compassionate law now @NZParliament

— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) October 15, 2015

Footnote

The four bills pulled from the ballot were:

25	Education (Restoration of Democracy to University Councils) Amendment Bill	Hon David Cunliffe
5	Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill	Dr Jian Yang
27	Electricity Transparency Bill	David Shearer
37	Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2)	Andrew Little

So I’m calling on Messrs. Cunliffe, Yang, Shearer and Little: seriously, none of your bills is more important than the suffering, now, of a single individual, either dying with terminal disease, or in chronic pain (ie, we need medicinal cannabis as alternative to those for whom morphine doesn’t work).

Which one of you will stand aside and allow the only bill of any consequence currently in Parliament that needs to be debated, and is long overdue? (I realise Seymour's bill doesn't cover cannabis oil, but for those whom morphine doesn't work, then given Minister Dunne doesn't think we're grown up enough to have (big indrawn breath) cannabis oil, at least for them there would be the choice of euthanasia. What a dysfunctional democracy we have where our individual rights are abrogated in Parliament, not protected, by a dufferish old coiffed codgerati scared witless of a fairy tale God.