ACT's David Seymour and Maggie Barry clash over euthanasia bill changes

December 13, 2018

David Seymour is looking to make changes to win over sceptical parliamentary colleagues, but one National MP isn’t having it.

ACT's leader David Seymour is proposing some last-minute changes to his euthanasia bill in a bid to win over sceptical parliamentary colleagues but one of the National MPs he's trying to impress is laughing him out of the House.

MPs up and down the country have been hearing tens of thousands of submissions on the assisted dying bill that would allow some people to end their lives.

“I'm now making some suggestions about how the bill might be further improved so that it takes into account people's concerns,” ACT leader David Seymour said.

Mr Seymour’s suggested improvements include limiting access to only the terminally ill, rather than including people with grievous and incurable medical conditions, specifically stating people with mental health conditions do not qualify and holding a binding referendum on the bill.

Maggie Barry's Palliative Care Members' Bill would also be incorporated in an attempt to placate Mr Seymour’s fiercest critic, not that that attempt worked.

“But one would hope she will put down her various animosities and say this is good,” Mr Seymour told 1 NEWS.

While the bill passed its first reading at Parliament there's a group of MPs who are staunchly opposed and it turns out Mrs Barry doesn't have much time for his olive branch.

“Even by David Seymour's standards this is an extraordinary flight of fancy and imagination,” Mrs Barry, the National MP for North Shore, told 1 NEWS.

“At best he's being cute, at worst he's just being David Seymour I think - publicity seeking.”

Despite the withering criticism, Mr Seymour was confident he'd win a new friend.

“She has no reason remaining to oppose my end of life bill but that's up to her,” Mr Seymour said.

“By the way, three weeks ago, he said the bill was perfection, there was nothing wrong, it was the greatest bill ever. Now he's changed his mind,” she said.

Mr Seymour will be hoping he'll have more luck with other MPs. 

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