A bill that would legalise voluntary euthanasia has been launched by ACT leader David Seymour.

The controversial issue is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, following Wellington lawyer Lecretia Seales' bid for the courts to rule in favour of assisted suicide.

Seales died in June after a long battle with cancer. Just hours before she died, she was made aware of Justice David Collins' ruling on her case - that Parliament was the only body that could legislate for euthanasia to become legal.

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But Prime Minister John Key has made clear that will he backed an inquiry, the Government would not put euthanasia on its own work programme.

That left the only option of a private members bill, said Seymour.

SUPPLIED Wellington lawyer and terminal cancer patient Lecretia Seales spent her last days battling for the right to die with the help of her doctor. Her case ultimately failed but has sparked a major petition and parliamentary inquiry into the issue.

"The End of Life Choice Bill is a response to the anguish faced by a small but significant minority of people with terminal illness or who are grievously and irremediably ill, as they anticipate the prospect of intolerable suffering and the indignity of the final few days and weeks of their lives.



"The motivation for this Bill is compassion. It allows people who so choose and are eligible under this Bill to end their life in peace and dignity, surrounded by loved ones," he said.

Part of the Key's reluctance to put the issue on the Government's books is the number of the grey areas the issue presents.

He has said its very difficult to get the legislation right.

Seymour said his bill "carefully defined those eligible for assisted dying".

"It details a comprehensive set of provisions to ensure this is a free choice made without coercion, and outlines a stringent series of steps to ensure the person is mentally capable of understanding the nature and consequences of assisted dying."

ACT commissioned a poll of 2800 people, which he said showed shows 66 per cent of the public favour of allowing assisted dying, 38 per cent were strongly in favour and 20 per cent were opposed.

A petition to hold an inquiry will be heard on today, before Parliament's Health Select Committee. It was instigated by the voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand and former Labour MP Maryan Street.

Street previously had her own private members bill in the ballot, which was passed to Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway when she failed to make it back into Parliament.

But Labour leader Andrew Little took it off Labour's programme, because the party had more pressing issues to attend to.

Parliament has previously voted down members' bills seeking to legalise euthanasia, including that of former New Zealand First MP Peter Brown, who watched his wife die of cancer and drafted a Death with Dignity Bill in 2003.

Any vote on euthanasia would be a conscience vote, but it could be months or longer before Seymour's bill appears in front of the house.

Seymour said the bill would be lodged in the ballot today.

From there, it would not be heard until it had been pulled from the ballot, in which more than 70 other members bills sit.