Victorian Labor forced to rely on One Nation and others to pass voluntary assisted dying bill after factional split

The Victorian government will be forced to rely on a motley crew of MPs including One Nation and the Liberals to pass its voluntary assisted dying laws after a group of Labor MPs railed against the legislation.

The development comes as the lower house on Wednesday continued to debate amendments to the state’s laws that would allow doctors to initiate conversations about voluntary assisted dying and expand the eligibility timeframe for all terminal illnesses to 12 months, with MPs from both Labor and the Coalition granted a conscience vote.

Labor MPs from the Catholic-influenced SDA union sub-faction attempted to move several amendments to curtail the scope of the changes, after an earlier bid to prevent the bill from being read a second time to allow for further consultation failed