Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House that the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 is the subject of much discussion and debate with many well qualified people expressing different points of view on both the underlying philosophies and practicalities of implementation.

In the end, like many issues, it appears to be a matter of judgement between competing principles and is not of such a nature that the only people qualified to make a determination about it are professional politicians. In fact, it may well be the case that the views of our elected members are at odds with those of the equally qualified citizens of Queensland. While some may point to past opinion polls as definitively indicating the views of the majority of Queenslanders, this is also contested and can only really be resolved by citizens providing their view in an officially recognised democratic process.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to initiate a referendum on the issue, simultaneous with the next time that all Queenslanders are required to vote (as a non-contradictory alternative to other approaches suggested to gather the official views of the voting public). The present parliamentary enquiry should be allowed to run its course to allow for further refinements to the bill but after that, the final vote in parliament should be deferred until the outcome of the referendum is known.