December 13, 2017
Referendum call for death choice bill
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says his party will support a bill to legalise euthanasia if it is backed by a referendum.
ACT Party leader David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill will come up for debate today.
National MPs have already lined up against it, with former senior ministers calling it a licence to kill with no protections for the elderly, the disabled or the vulnerable.
Mr Peters will vote for it to go to a select committee but there are no promises after that.
"It's going to be a conscience vote but my party's position is that all of our members say this matter should really have gotten to the public in a referendum. Let the adults and the voters of New Zealand make a decision and not just have a bunch of politicians think they can make all the moral decisions a country needs to have. We will support if it has a referendum provision in it, that is that it is triggered by a referendum," he says.
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com