The bill was defeated in the Legislative Council, 20 votes to 19, just after 11pm on Thursday and Shayne was in the gallery watching it all unfold.

“We really thought we had the numbers … we had worked so hard and met with so many members of Parliament but a couple of Coalition MP's changed their position at the last minute,” Shayne, who is a Mid North Coast resident and Vice President of Dying for Dignity (DWD), said.

“It’s really hard – it won’t be back before the NSW Parliament before late 2019, at the earliest. We have to wait until after the next election, which is in March 2019.

“It’s a long wait, and for people like me, who are so close to the issue, I can't help thinking about the hundreds of people who will die badly because this Bill failed to pass … those who will be denied the choice of a peaceful death.”

Shayne said she could not understand why, with a Roy Morgan poll showing 85 per cent of people supporting the idea of assisted dying, “some politicians are so out of sync with the community … it’s just really puzzling”. 

The special snap survey conducted by Roy Morgan Research on November 2 with a representative cross-section of 1,386 Australians aged 18 plus, showed 85 per cent (up 11 per cent from May 1996) are in favour of allowing a doctor to ‘give a lethal dose when a patient is hopelessly ill with no chance of recovery and asks for a lethal dose’. 

Hope now turns to Victoria, where the bill has been through the Lower House and is currently in the Upper House. 

Shayne said for herself, she will step back from her work with Dying with Dignity and return to her role as leader of the Voluntary Euthanasia Party NSW and her new position as Deputy Convenor of the federal arm of the party.

“We will make this an issue at the next election, something people will be discussing … we’ve witnessed a loss by just one vote, so if we can replace one of those who is opposed, then next time we might get this across the line.”