Living through the harrowing experience of walking her father through voluntary assisted dying has led Liberal senator Jane Hume to change her view on the issue.
Her father Steve was diagnosed with pneumonia, fibromyalgia and finally a tumour on his lung which spread to his spine, giving him six months to live in late 2019.
"Exhausted by treatments by endless trips to hospitals ... he explained to his doctor he no longer wanted to be treated and wanted to arrange to receive assisted dying," Senator Hume said on Wednesday.
Senator Hume originally opposed voluntary assisted dying due to concerns about a lack of safeguards.
But when she went through the Victorian system, an emotional Senator Hume said the safeguards were "almost insurmountable".
"This is great in theory, but a very frustrating one when you're the daughter of a thriving and single-minded but increasingly incapable father, demanding your help," she said.
"When dad heard he had to live for another three weeks, he cried.
"I will be voting in favour ... having held the hand of the person I love deeply as he died painlessly, the way he wanted."
The Senate has engaged in a proxy euthanasia debate on a bill before the upper house to repeal a ban on the ACT and Northern Territory legislating on the issue.
ACT senator David Pocock has urged his parliamentary colleagues to view the legislation as one of restoring territory rights, rather than a direct vote on voluntary assisted dying.
Both he and fellow ACT senator Katy Gallagher have said the ban creates two classes of citizens in the states and territories - those who can and those who can't.
All the states have legislated to allow voluntary assisted dying since a similar repeal bill was voted down in the Senate in 2018.
The current repeal bill has passed the lower house and is due to be voted on in the Senate before it rises for the year in December.
