We have enormous respect for Premier Daniel Andrews and Health Minister Jill Hennessy for their courageous and thorough work proposing this compassionate and safe voluntary assisted dying bill.

Those who have worked on this bill have approached a difficult ethical issue with intelligence and empathy.   

Every shift nurses are with patients when they die. Our intimate knowledge of the dying process means many nurses are uncomfortable with the status quo and the absence of a legal framework around refusal or stopping of treatment, withdrawing nutrition and hydration, pushing futile treatments that prolong suffering, continuous sedation and administering increasingly high doses of morphine.

The proposed bill will give dying Victorians more choice and control about their last days and hours, but it will also give them greater protection over decisions that shorten their lives that are already being made by others without consultation or oversight.

There are no figures on the number of Victorians who died from an increased dose of morphine administered to manage pain, nor is this information on death certificates – the grey status quo is not good enough.

While many were calling for improved palliative care one of the leaders in the sector, Caritas Christi Hospice, was proposing to close six beds. The St Vincent’s Health Australia facility in Kew has reported a decline in doctors referring palliative care patients since October 2016.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation has been working to increase the number of nurses caring for patients of public palliative care services. The speciality area’s legislated ratios are one nurse to four patients on the morning shift, plus a nurse in charge; one nurse to five patients on the afternoon shift, plus a nurse in charge and one nurse to eight patients on the night shift.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy’s ratio improvement taskforce is currently considering ANMF’s claims for one nurse to four patients on the afternoon shift and one nurse to six patients on the night shift, plus a nurse in charge.

The federation wants a system that leads the world in hospital and community palliative care nursing and provides a robust, safe and a compassionate voluntary assisted dying choice if you are terminally ill and meet very tight criteria.

Experiencing unmanageable pain and symptoms is horrific for the person dying. It’s devastating for those witnessing such a death and changes them forever. 

Nurses are standing up for those patients who are too ill to lobby politicians for this law and for those we have cared for and, despite our best efforts, did not have a good death.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, secretary, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Victorian branch

THE state government is calling for the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme to continue without delay and is urging the federal government to fully fund the scheme.

The government welcomes the Productivity Commission report into NDIS costs, which poses the challenge that we have to meet – that cannot be delayed beyond the 2020 schedule. The report points to a number of failings of the rollout to date and it tells us what people with disabilities and workers have been telling us for some time – that the federal government has underfunded the scheme and the roll out is failing its promise for too many people.

Starving the NDIS of support has led to too many delays, has seen prices for services which are too low, too many inadequate plans, and not delivered in a supportive way – meaning the schemes potential has often fallen short. This is particularly the case for people with complex needs, mental health and other complex disabilities, as well as vulnerable community members from indigenous, regional and CALD communities.

The state government has more than doubled our investment to deliver the NDIS to people with a disability. We’re working tirelessly to support the National Disability Insurance Agency where we can, with an expert Intensive Support Team for people with complex needs.

We promised more than 100,000 people a better deal to a new type of support to improve their lives – and that’s what we will deliver.

Martin Foley, Victorian Housing, Disability and Ageing Minister

WE commemorate the 75th anniversary of the second Battle of El Alamein on Monday. Between July and November 1942 there were three battles fought at El Alamein and Australian forces figured prominently in two of them. During five months of fighting, Australia suffered almost 6000 casualties.

It was the Battle of El Alamein that turned the war in North Africa, where Rommel and his Panzer Army were rebuked and the Axis forces were driven out of the continent. 

On the 75th anniversary of the battle, it will be an honour to welcome veterans of the Battle of El Alamein to Canberra for a reception in their honour. I ask all Australians to pause and reflect on their service and sacrifice and of all those who served in North Africa during the Second World War. Lest we forget.

Dan Tehan, Federal Veterans Affairs Minister