Camden Head resident Janet Cohen says the first day of debate on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill was encouraging but is urging all Members of Parliament to listen to people from their electorates.
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Ms Cohen was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2015 and has been rallying ever since to gain the freedom to choose how her life ends.
The Bill was debated in the NSW Parliament on Friday, November 12, where 20 out of 31 Members of Parliament spoke in support of the Bill.
An Upper House committee will finalise a report on the Bill in February, 2022, if it passes the lower house.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill was tabled in the NSW Parliament on Thursday, October 14 and made history as being co-sponsored by the highest number of Members on a Bill in any Australian parliament.
Twenty eight Members of Parliament co-sponsored the Bill, including Member for Port Macquarie, Leslie Williams.
However, Ms Cohen said many other MPs are not listening to their electorates.
"MPs need to represent their electorate's views fairly, listen to the evidence and vote accordingly," she said.
"If they do, this Bill will pass."
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet addressed Parliament on November 12, and spoke about grandmother's illness.
However, instead of supporting the Bill, Mr Perrottet said more had to be done to improve palliative care for people who are terminally ill.
Mr Perrottet's words were hard to hear for Ms Cohen.
"Many MPs, including the Premier, are turning their backs on the evidence this law is safe and compassionate, preferring instead to fearmonger and mislead," she said.
"The Premier can throw all the money in the world at palliative care but there will still be people whose suffering it cannot relieve."
The vote on the Bill will be a conscience vote, which means MPs don't have to follow the party line when making their decision.
Ms Cohen said the issue of giving terminally ill people in NSW the option of an assisted death shouldn't be about which faction MPs belong to, or their personal beliefs.
"It's about people, compassion and protecting vulnerable people from unnecessary suffering," she said.
Mrs Williams will speak in Parliament on Friday, November 19 in support of the Bill.
"In terms on the vote within the legislative assembly, I would say I am quietly confident but at the end of the day we won't know that definitively until we see the vote," she said.
Mrs Williams has worked as a nurse in palliative care and will reflect on her personal experience in her address.
Mrs Williams said it's promising MPs will be able to vote on the Bill in the lower house before the end of 2021 and potentially vote on amendments as well.
