This is the third time in eight years that Tasmanian Parliament will vote on whether or not to make euthanasia legal after two previous attempts failed to make it past the lower house.

The vote this time is expected to be tight since no member is expected to follow party lines.

So far, bill proponents – Labor justice spokeswoman Lara Giddings and Greens leader Cassy O’Connor – have spoken in favour of the bill, as has Labor leader Rebecca White.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson has spoken against the bill, as has party colleague Roger Jaensch.

Labor’s Madeleine Ogilvie has expressed opposition as well.

A midday rally on Parliament House lawns attracted hundreds of people in support of the voluntary assisted dying bill while a petition signed by more than 800 people tabled earlier in the day by government minister Rene Hidding expressed opposition.

In her speech, Opposition justice spokeswoman Lara Giddings quoted Dr Heather Dunn who said in a letter that she was still haunted by not being able to give patients a dignified death through being put in a situation where state laws and her conscience were in conflict.

She said there were strict provisions within the bill to protect vulnerable people, adding to do nothing was a form of elder abuse and discrimination.

Ms Giddings said no patient or practitioner would feel compelled to go through the assisted dying process, that the pathway could only be accessed once all other options were exhausted, and that the patient must have serious, incurable medical condition with no prospect of cure or recovery.

She said while the Australian Medical Association had an official policy to oppose euthanasia, a recent survey showed that just half of the doctors surveyed were against euthanasia.

“But ultimately this bill is about the patients and there are hundreds of stories of people taking their own lives because they can not bare the pain and suffering anymore,” Ms Giddings said.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said that people were experiencing desperate and lonely deaths through not having another option available to them.

She said both health professionals and patients were legally better protected through the bill.

“Under the law as it stands, people suffering excruciating and incurable pain that palliative medicine cannot salve are vulnerable and prolonged agony and a terrible death,” Ms O’Connor said.

“The question is what are we as lawmakers going to do about that?”

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the bill sanctioned suicide.

“This bill will create a different group of tragedies to those that have already been shared,” he said.

Mr Ferguson targeted the language used by euthanasia proponents, saying that the term ‘voluntary assisted dying’ wasn’t an honest representation – calling it ‘mercy killing’ and ‘assisted suicide’ instead.

He said provisions within the bill could be exploited to facilitate death tourism, that decisions relied upon subjective judgments of patients and doctors, and that a decision to pursue euthanasia as an end-of-life option did not need to be made by a patient’s regular treating doctor.

Labor Leader Rebecca White expressed support for the bill, saying that people deserved to have control of their own bodies and highlighted that the process was completely voluntary.

She said there were adequate safeguards against exploitation and the choice it allowed brought comfortable to the sick and dying.

The vote will take place at some stage tonight.