Voluntary assisted dying vote likely to be close in Victoria's Upper House
Access to a medically assisted death for terminally ill Victorians lies in the hands of just a few Upper House MPs, with a final vote on controversial laws to go down to the wire.
Following a marathon sitting last week, Lower House MPs voted 47-37 to legalise voluntary euthanasia in Victoria, under a model Premier Daniel Andrews has described as the most conservative in the world.
The bill is set for the Upper House next week where numbers are tight.
There are 19 Yes votes locked in, two short of the 21 needed in the 40-person chamber.
That includes the Reason Party's Fiona Patten, five Greens, two Liberals and 11 Labor MPs.
Opposing the bill are three Labor MPs, Rachel Carling-Jenkins of the Australian Conservatives, One Nationals MP and at least eight Liberals.
Shadow frontbencher Georgie Crozier said after much thinking and analysis of the bill she could not support the plan because of fears people would be coerced.
'Lots of unanswered questions'
She has fears that some people will feel a burden on their families and see an assisted death as a relief to their loved ones.
James Purcell, who is based in the Western districts, from the Vote 1 Local Jobs Party, personally supports euthanasia but said given the vote was going to be so close he wants to make sure it was the will of his vast electorate.
He said he would not be abstaining.
"I've never run away from a vote and I'm not going to start with this," he told the ABC.
"My vote is going to be for the community, not for me.
"I genuinely think at this stage that the majority of the people in western Victoria are supportive of the legislation but I'll wait and decide at the end of the day."
Liberal MP Wendy Lovell said she was trying to keeping an open mind but was leaning against the bill.
"It will take a bit to convince me at this time, there are lots of unanswered questions," she said.
The Liberal President of the Upper House, Bruce Atkinson, said he is yet to decide on how he will vote, as is Margaret Fitzherbert, the member for the Southern Metropolitan Region.
Their colleague Simon Ramsay has previously said he was supportive of the idea of euthanasia but was yet to declare on the bill.
Nationals MP Melina Bath's office said the Gippsland MP was reserving her right on the issue, her colleague Luke O'Sullivan will vote against the bill.
The two Shooters, Fishers and Farmers' Party MPs are yet to declare how they will vote.
'Down to the wire'
Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings conceded amendments might be needed to win support for the bill in the Upper House.
"We're not inviting amendments and the Government's clear preference is not to have amendments, but I'm dealing with the reality in the circumstances where I don't control the numbers, the Government doesn't control the numbers in the Upper House," he said.
"This bill, the voluntary assisted dying bill, will be like every other bill. Every single vote has the potential to go down to the wire."