I would like to begin by telling you the story of a lady named Valery Joy Brooks, once a great nurse and loving mother of four girls. In 1984 Valery suffered an aneurysm of the frontal and temporal lobes (also known as a stroke) which left her completely paralyzed except for independent movements such as breathing and blinking. For the first twelve years of my life, I watched my grandmother, Valery, cruelly await the end of her suffering. In 2008, Valery finally died after 24 long, tiring years spent stuck in a bed, watching the world move on without her. For these reasons I will talk to you today about why Australia should legalize euthanasia for terminally ill patients. According to the Apple dictionary, euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Notice the key word? Suffering. People who have to live with unbearable torture, be it pain, paralysis, neurodegenerative diseases or other causes that make their lives hell, not to mention the torment that families go through as they watch their loved ones slowly wither away. Currently, if people from Australia wish to undergo euthanasia, they are forced to travel to Switzerland where they have to endure a long and extremely expensive wait for the possible green light to leave this world, if they have the necessary money.Through the companies Emirates Airlines, flights to Zurich, Switzerland start at around $2500 per ticket, not to mention accommodation and the price of the procedure itself. This means shelling out at least two and a half thousand for each additional loved one who wants to accompany you. So I ask: why, when only 12% of Australians are against the legalization of euthanasia,...... half the paper...... life? Why does our government get to choose who lives or dies? A fundamental human right is choice. It seems like this is something we don't have considering 85% of Australians support the legalization of assisted suicide, yet the bill is nowhere near becoming an act. Imagine being debilitated and suffering from crippling pain for years and years. While this topic represents a difficult moral and ethical minefield, if adequate safeguards are in place, where people must select their preferences regarding euthanasia before there is a disabling disease and extremely serious consequences for people who attempt to abuse of the euthanasia system, then we can eliminate all the relevant arguments presented by the opposition. This means that there is no logical reason why we should not respect a person's right to their life and to do with it as they wish..