Turning on the auto-babble: David Crisafulli and the politics of euthanasia
Queensland this week will become the fifth state to pass laws permitting euthanasia and assisted dying. Itās a big reform but it could have profound consequences for Opposition leader David Crisafulli, says Dennis Atkins
One of two things happen when a political leader takes a stand on an issue of high principle.
Either it rings out with belief and conviction or it sounds like someone who is saying whatever comes into his or her head because of misery and paranoia.
The misery and paranoia comes from fear. Itās the fear of political armageddon if you misstep and find yourself on the wrong side of a majority of your colleagues.
Thatās where the amazing shrinking LNP leader David Crisafulli finds himself as the Queensland Parliament debates truly significant laws on voluntary assisted dying.
After playing rhetorical games and hiding behind weasel words for months (mostly a wall of āI want to read every word of the legislationā), the member for the Gold Coast seat of Broadwater announced he couldnāt vote for āflawed legislationā despite appearing to support the basic policy of VAD.
Or did he? When you read Crisafulliās speech youād be excused for thinking he was confused. Or you could relax and be confused yourself.
Crisafulliās opposition to voting for the VAD legislation is the suggestion itās easier for people to access this end of life process before being allowed to get palliative care.
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Crisafulli and the LNP say while people of means can get palliative care readily those without such means are not so lucky.
There is a strong case for providing access to palliative care to all but it seems like a convenient excuse for not voting for the government legislation, especially when Crisafulli says the VAD laws put āunintentionally but unavoidablyā a lesser value on the life of the āpoor, the remote, the sickā.
Read back over that. The first bit (unintentionally but unavoidably) just doesnāt make sense either logically or grammatically while the idea that sick people need palliative care is a contender for the non-sequitur of the millenium.
Later, Crisafulli aims a spear at the heart of the laws by saying āit breaks a fundamental tenet of our society ā that human life is sacrosanctā.
If Crisafulli does think āhuman life (being) sacrosanctā is a āfundamental tenet of our societyā you might wonder why he suggests elsewhere he supports assisting people facing āgreat pain and terminal illnessā.
Simply put, no he doesnāt. Either Crisafulli doesnāt understand the legislation ā which he should, as he was going to read every word ā or heās just masking a fear of a majority of colleagues who are opposed to the laws in varying degrees.
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If Crisafulli does think āhuman life is sacrosanctā he wouldnāt even suggest he supports the principle of voluntary assisted dying in any form. After all, the Oxford Dictionary meaning of sacrosanct is āregarded as too important or valuable to be interfered withā. If assisting someone to die isnāt āinterfering withā a life then what is?
All this is important because leadership matters, belief in politics matters and conviction is important.
If Crisafulli isnāt strong enough to give a clear, unambiguous view he isnāt much of a leader. At least his predecessor Deb Frecklington said she was opposing the laws because in her mind ālife is lifeā.
For Crisafulli, life is a lot of words designed to either pretend to have a position or itās something we havenāt seen in Queensland politics for more than 30 years.
Just after the Nationals lost power in 1989, then Opposition leader and former Premier Russell Cooper would get up in Parliament and let fly with strings of words devoid of meaning and an affront to grammar and syntax. At the time it was known as āauto-babbleā.
Crisafulli has Queenslandās last National Party Premier as his unlikely progenitor. Cooper was always quite an act to follow but Crisafulli is trudging along, one step of doom after another.
The fascinating LNP political implications are one thing ā this will set a doomsday clock ticking on Crisafulliās leadership, currently sitting at about 12 minutes to midnight.
Politics to one side, this is genuine reform, supported by an overwhelming majority of Queenslanders with that backing almost certainly stronger in many LNP seats than in suburban electorates in and around Brisbane.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the VAD laws at her campaign launch last October, blindsiding many ā including senior ALP figures. It was a conviction move and won her great support among the 70 per cent plus of Queenslanders who support the reforms ā especially in older age cohorts.
Getting it through Parliament in the first 12 months will enhance and cement that backing ā and the LNP mostly standing against the weight of public opinion will count against the Opposition.
Hereās hoping Palaszczuk and company can pull together a bigger reform agenda and get on with the job. This latest law is a very good first move.
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