A week after visiting his dying grandmother in hospital, Premier Dominic Perrottet stood in NSW parliament to oppose laws that would allow her to end her suffering sooner.
The parliament is debating a bill that would give terminally ill people in the state access to voluntary assisted dying.
Speaking on Friday, Mr Perrottet said the issue was something “very real and personal” to him.
His grandmother, aged in her nineties, is dying of pancreatic cancer.
“I sat next to her holding her hand I could tell that she was in great pain and that she wanted it to be over.
“I got a sense, as much as anyone can have, why those in such pain would want to end up quickly.
“So this debate is not abstract for me. (But) this debate is fundamentally about how we treat that precious thing called human life.”
Mr Perottett said the laws marked a “threshold moment”.
While the bill currently restricts to terminally ill people who would die in no more than 12 months, if it passes, Mr Perrottet said it would open the door for euthanasia to be allowed in other circumstances.
“If we crossed crossed this threshold, this parliament should be under no illusions as to what it would do.”
Instead, NSW should improve the quality of its palliative care.
“I failed in my former capacity as treasurer to address this issue but as premier I will fix it.”
While Mr Perrottet will vote no, member of the Liberal Party have been afforded a conscience vote on the issue.
Labor leader Chris Minns has also said he will vote against the reform, but Labor MPs will too be able to vote their conscience.
NSW is the only state that is yet to pass voluntary assisted dying laws.
The bill was tabled in parliament last month by Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, with a record 28 co-sponsors from across the political spectrum.
However debate won’t finish before 2022, after the government and Labor agreed to refer it to an upper house inquiry.
The inquiry will hold hearings throughout December, with a report due back on the first sitting day of 2022.
AAP
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