Please join us as we pray that the intent of the Victorian Labour Government to legalize euthanasia in this state will be thwarted. By all accounts, the matter will be brought before State Parliament in August.

Apart from prayer, one thing you can do is sign a petition from Australian Christian Lobby calling for a plebsicite on this issue. You can find the petition here.

The Presbyterian Church of Victoria has expressed its opposition for the following reasons:

• Accepting euthanasia – by definition – suggests that some lives are worth less than others (at the moment it is the sick and aged in view, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine it could be expanded to include the handicapped, even the depressed at a later stage).

• The State cannot guarantee that these laws will not lead to some cases of involuntary euthanasia (i.e there remains the inherent danger of the possibility of involuntary euthanasia).

• There is no way of properly regulating euthanasia (Holland is a great example of where this leads) and will undoubtedly lead to vulnerable people being placed under great pressure to acquiesce, and we have no doubt it would eventually become a means of aged health-care cost controlling decisions.

The matter is of course an emotive and complex one, but rather going down this dangerous path, we consider that a better solution can be found in the improved use of and the greater funding for palliative care.