A nationwide poll of 1,032 people conducted by Essential Research has found that 73% of Australians support voluntary assisted dying.
The poll was commissioned by Dying With Dignity NSW and conducted between 10 August and 14 August. Respondents were asked: “If someone with a terminal illness who is experiencing unrelievable suffering asks to die, should a doctor be allowed to assist them to die?”
While 15% of those polled disagreed, 12% were undecided. Support was strongest among those aged 55 years and over, reaching 81%. Only 10% of respondents in that age group disagreed with voluntary assisted dying.
The result is in line with previous polls. A 2012 Australia Institute survey of 1,422 people found 71% of respondents supported voluntary euthanasia “for people experiencing unrelievable and incurable physical or mental suffering”.
The president of Dying with Dignity NSW, Dr Sarah Edelman, said the findings should make it clear to politicians that the majority of Australians want a change in the law.
“This is particularly the case as people get older, and start to think about their own future and that of their loved ones,” she said.
The latest poll comes as Victoria and New South Wales are considering assisted dying legislation. The NSW voluntary assisted dying bill will be debated before parliament in mid-September. The bill proposes 25 as a minimum age and states the person must be deemed likely to die within 12 months.
Victoria will debate its bill by the end of the year. There, people will have to be at least 18 and diagnosed with an incurable disease, illness or medical condition that is advanced and will cause death within 12 months.
An expert panel chaired by Prof Brian Owler, a former head of the Australian Medical Association, produced a detailed report and recommendations for the health minister, Jill Hennessy, which will help inform the bill.
There have been more than 40 attempts around Australia to introduce assisted dying legislation since the Northern Territory’s euthanasia laws were overturned by the federal parliament in 1997.
A separate Victorian opinion poll conducted in the marginal south-east seats of Bentleigh, Mordialloc, Carrum and Frankston earlier this month found a combined 86% support for allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses to terminally ill patients.
