27/10/2026
Australians were rightly horrified by the announced livestream ex*****on of a convicted mass murderer.
While US authorities have seen sense and cancelled the livestream, they still plan to execute the man.
This isn’t the only ex*****on to grab our attention recently.
The failed ex*****on of another prisoner in the US has shown there is no neat, “dignified” way to take someone’s life, despite the promises of advocates.
To many Australians, this culture of death seems foreign to us.
The truth, however, is that the taking of lives does occur here.
The termination of the unborn at one end of life and the terminally ill at the other end is just as brutal and should be just as shocking.
But, like capital punishment, the reality of these deaths is often hidden from us.
In the past week, the Labor Party proudly announced that, if re-elected, Victorian taxpayers would cover the full cost of abortions for expectant mothers in Victoria.
The Liberal/National Coalition swiftly confirmed they would follow suit.
Last year, Victoria made so-called “Voluntary Assisted Dying” easier to access.
Despite advocate promises about “dying with dignity”, it’s not hard to find accounts of patients whose attempts to end their life using VAD have not been quick or easy or painless.
Australian authorities don’t often publish this sort of data, so this reality is largely hidden from us.
But do we hold in our mind and heart the stark reality of what is occurring when human lives are deliberately ended?
Each person is unique and unrepeatable; made in the image and likeness of God, with inherent dignity and infinite worth that is never lost.
Sadly, this is too often ignored.
Australia rightly recognised decades ago that it could no longer justify capital punishment, if it ever could.
We have the means to safely incarcerate convicted criminals for the rest of their lives if necessary.
How then can we justify ending the lives of the unborn, whatever the reason given?
Do we not have the means to support the least among us and their mothers?
And with the sick and the terminally ill, don’t we have the means to support them fully with love, compassion and medical care, to the end?
Will politicians who advocate to fully fund one “choice” also advocate to fully fund the alternatives?
Sadly, no major political party – Labor, Liberal, National – or the Greens or One Nation is offering to really turn back the tide on this culture of death.
True, no candidate or political party can ever solve every issue or be a perfect representative. When casting our votes in November we will need to weigh up the full range of issues and policies before us to decide who would best serve the common good – or least harm it.
Let us pray that those we choose will govern wisely and prudently, upholding the good of all, especially the least among us.
