While he has “great sympathy” for people suffering at the end of their lives, he is worried that unnecessary pressure might be put on vulnerable and frail members of the community.

Fair enough. A prudent politician ought to see if practical consequences of a new law are likely to harm other members of society.

Well, there is much evidence about the effects of assisted dying laws that have been in place for years.

Oregon (1997), the Netherlands (2002) and Belgium (2002) are the main examples.

One fear has been that greedy relatives will pressure granny into asking to die so they can get their inheritance sooner.

Another is that callous doctors will encourage dying patients to hurry up about it, in order to free up hospital beds.

The good news is that there is no evidence whatsoever of this happening.

All assisted dying laws include safeguards that require two independent doctors to confirm that a terminally-ill person seeking medical help to die is doing so voluntarily and without coercion, is mentally competent and has made a considered decision.

The question that Mr Toole raises is not new.

It has been authoritatively examined many times. 

To take three recent examples:

In 2013, the reputable think-tank Australia 21 concluded: “There is now a large body of experience in a number of international jurisdictions following the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia and/or assisted suicide. This shows that appropriate safeguards can be implemented to protect vulnerable people and prevent the abuse that opponents of assisted dying have feared.”

The Canadian Supreme Court in 2015 agreed that expert evidence showed that the “predicted abuse and disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations has not materialised” in Belgium, the Netherlands and Oregon.

And last year, a Victorian Parliamentary Committee Inquiry into end-of-life choices identified precisely the issues that Mr Toole has identified.

That committee wrote: “Prohibition of assisted dying is causing some people great pain and suffering. It is also leading some to end their lives prematurely and in distressing ways.”

But, like Mr Toole, it also cautioned: “Safeguards need to be in place to ensure that vulnerable people are not pressured or coerced into making decisions that they do not want to.”

And its finding? “The evidence is conclusive that assisted dying can be provided in a way that guards against abuse and protects the vulnerable in our community in a way that unlawful and unregulated assisted dying does not.”

So while the possibility of abuse of the vulnerable is a very justifiable concern, the clear evidence is that in practice it has not happened.

This is one reason why, last year, Canada, California and Colorado passed assisted dying laws.

I hope Mr Toole will help NSW be next – unless Victoria beats us to it.