Image – Wikimedia: University of Technology Sydney
In November 2023 the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022 in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) came into effect, allowing eligible terminally ill adults to request medical assistance to end their lives. The first official figures show that between 28 November 2023 and 30 June 2024, 1141 people made a first request under the scheme, and 398 people died as a result.
Against this backdrop, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has announced a sweeping “Operational Sustainability Initiative” intended to address a projected $100 million budget shortfall. As part of this plan, UTS has proposed to discontinue three postgraduate courses in palliative care.
This development raises serious cause for concern, especially in the context of end-of-life care policy. Cutting postgraduate training in this speciality at the university, one of only two in Australia offering such advanced qualifications, will diminish the pipeline of specialist practitioners needed to provide real choice in a jurisdiction that has legalised assisted suicide.
The timing could not be more critical. If fewer health professionals are being trained in palliative care, then the quality, accessibility, or innovation of this end-of-life support may suffer. As we have come to learn, when society chooses death rather than care, the moral and cultural consequences are profound.
Sue Carter MP, the co-chair of Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care said, “palliative care provides vital support for the dying,” explaining that, “we need more skilled physicians – cutting this degree is a cost-cutting measure for the university, but ignores the significant human cost involved.”
Another MP, Greg Donnelly, said limiting options for studying palliative care involves huge risks.
In Britain the debate about assisted dying remains alive, and the NSW example offers a cautionary tale. Even within a tightly regulated system, uptake was rapid, and death by assisted dying already amounts to over 1% of all deaths in that state.
Now, training in palliative care is scaled back in favour of cost-cutting, which will create a huge knock-on effect throughout NSW. Older people and those with life-limiting illnesses may feel the only viable option is assisted suicide rather than high-quality, compassionate support.
SPUC’s Executive Director, Michael Robinson, says “Palliative care in Britain is amongst the best in the world. We have long warned that legalising assisted suicide will harm the quality of the service. New South Wales is a key example: when health providers are allowed to kill you, they lose the incentive to look after you.”
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