The Voluntary Euthanasia Party (VEP) was a minor political party in Australia, founded in early 2013 by Corey McCann to advocate for legislative change to allow

voluntary euthanasia Voluntary euthanasia is the purposeful ending of another person's life at their request, in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in the 21st century, ...

in Australia. The party's inception was strongly supported by Dr

Philip Nitschke Philip Haig Nitschke (; born 8 August 1947) is an Australian humanist, author, former physician, and founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Austral ...

, director of Exit International and Richard Mills, then President of Dying with Dignity NSW. The VEP was registered as a political party from June 2013 to March 2021,Application for registration approved – Voluntary Euthanasia Party
Australian Electoral Commission, 1 June 2013. and had a federal branch as well as state branches in New South Wales and Victoria. In 2019, the New South Wales branch voted to become the branch of the Reason Party in that state, while the Victorian branch voluntarily de-registered in 2020 following that state's implementation of assisted suicide laws.

History

Before the party was founded and registered, a number of pro-voluntary euthanasia groups contested elections in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Doug McLaren was an 'Independent for Voluntary Euthanasia' candidate in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, before Nitschke led the 'Independent Voluntary Euthanasia'

legislative council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

ticket in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. 'Independent Christians for Voluntary Euthanasia' both contested the 2010 election, and 'Independent Legalise Voluntary Euthanasia' ran in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. The party was founded in 2013 to bring attention to the need for voluntary assisted dying law reform and to bring together advocates from the Dying with Dignity and Exit International movements. The immediate goal of the VEP was to make voluntary euthanasia a central issue at the September 2013 Federal election. In December 2019, the VEP's NSW branch voted overwhelmingly to become the NSW branch of the Reason Party, on the grounds that being a single issue political party was a liability, and the Reason party were established supporters of voluntary euthanasia. Reason party leader

Fiona Patten Fiona Heather Patten (born May 1964) is an Australian politician. She was the leader of Reason Australia (also known as the Reason Party) and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 2014 and 2022, representing the Northern Met ...

also stated the merger made sense for Reason as they did not have a branch in NSW, where VEP was well established. The Victorian branch was voluntarily de-registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission in July 2020. The federal party was the last to de-register, voluntarily de-registering in March 2021.

Executive committee

Professor Ranjan Ray, former President of the Western Australia Voluntary Euthanasia Society, was the first convenor of the Party, and was succeeded by Kerry Bromson in October 2014.

, the founder of Exit International, was the Deputy Convenor until October 2016, followed by Kym Buckley (2016–2017), and Shayne Higson (2017–2019). The Party Secretaries have been Corey McCann (2013–2015), Sandi Steep (2015–2016), David Mahoney (2016–2017), Sue Inglis (2018) and Julie Hanley (2018–2019). The Party Treasurers have been Jane Stabb (2013–2015), Justin Templer (2015–2016) and Sandi Steep (2016–2019).

Definitions

There is no universally agreed definition of "voluntary euthanasia". Terms like dying with dignity, physician-assisted dying, physician-

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

and voluntary assisted dying are also used. The VEP regards voluntary euthanasia as involving a request by a terminally or incurably ill person for medical assistance to end his or her life painlessly and peacefully. A doctor may administer the medication or prescribe medication that the patient self-administers.

Election campaigns

The VEP participated in six Australian elections. They did not win any seats, though increased their percentage of votes at each re-contested election.

Federal

The VEP nominated seven candidates at the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Coalition (Australia), Liberal/National Coalition Opposition (Australia), opposition led by ...

: six candidates for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(two each in New South Wales, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory); and a candidate for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

seat of

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

in the Northern Territory. Three of the candidates were terminally ill. The VEP received 21,854 first preference votes in the Senate (0.16% of votes), while the sole House of Representatives candidate received 597 votes. The VEP nominated seven candidates at the

2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday, 2 July 2016, to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign p ...

: six candidates for the Senate (two each in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria); and a candidate for the House of Representatives seat of

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

in Victoria. The VEP received 23,252 first preference votes in the Senate (0.17% of votes), while the sole House of Representatives candidate received 973 votes. The VEP did not run any candidates in the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

, rather they focused on canvasing the views of major candidates in key electorates.

Victorian state elections

The VEP fielded ten candidates in five

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

regions at the

2014 Victorian state election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incum ...

on 29 November 2014. The lead candidate was Dr Fiona Stewart, public health sociologist and co-author of four books about end of life issues including '' The Peaceful Pill Handbook''. The VEP received 16,772 first preference votes (0.49% of votes). The VEP fielded sixteen candidates in eight Victorian Legislative Council regions at the

2018 Victorian state election The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for elect ...

on 24 November 2018. The VEP received 42,611 first preference votes (1.19% of votes).

New South Wales state elections

The VEP stood sixteen candidates for the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

in the

2015 New South Wales state election The 2015 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly using optional preferential voting. Members were also elected to 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative ...

on 28 March 2015. The lead candidate was Shayne Higson. Higson began advocating for voluntary assisted dying legislation after her mother died from a brain tumour in 2012. The VEP received 40,710 votes (0.94% of votes). The VEP stood sixteen candidates for the New South Wales Legislative Council in the

2019 New South Wales state election The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was ...

on 23 March 2019. Shayne Higson resumed her role as lead candidate. The VEP received 46,971 votes (1.06% of votes). Higson finished in 26th place out of 364 candidates; seats were awarded to those who finished in the top 21 places. In 2019, the New South Wales branch voted to become the branch of the Reason Party in that state, while the Victorian branch voluntarily de-registered in 2020 following that state's implementation of assisted suicide laws. In late 2022, the NSW branch of Reason changed its name to the Public Education Party. No explanation was publicly given for the name change.

References

External links

Official website
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Political parties in Victoria (Australia) 2013 establishments in Australia Euthanasia in Australia Euthanasia organizations Political parties established in 2013 Defunct political parties in Australia Defunct political parties in New South Wales Defunct political parties in Victoria (state) Single-issue political parties in Australia Political parties disestablished in 2021