Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton says the Netherlands' approved killing of a child almost two years old is proof that euthanasia does not stay in the narrow box its promoters promised.
"The right response to suffering is always care, not killing," Mr Shelton said. "Pain should be relieved with proper palliative medicine. A toddler who cannot speak and cannot consent should never be given lethal drugs."
Dutch judgment LK-2026-001 records that independent doctors first found the child was not continuously suffering unbearably and that palliative options and other medication remained. Parents rejected prolonged sedation. The child's life was then ended with midazolam, morphine, propofol and thiopental. A committee called it "due care."
"Once euthanasia is offered as an alternative to palliative care, politicians have a permission structure not to fund real care properly," Mr Shelton said. "Why build the harder, dearer system of pain relief, family support and paediatric palliative medicine if the cheaper option is to end the patient's life?"
He said euthanasia advocates such as Andrew Denton told Australians there was "no slippery slope." Denton said so at the National Press Club in 2016.
"The intentional killing of a disabled toddler is proof positive those advocates coated the slope with grease," Mr Shelton said. "Family First will keep fighting for life from conception to natural death. Every human life matters. The answer to suffering is better care, not killing."
