When faced with the terminal suffering of someone you love, almost nothing else matters. I understand the pain. The renewed debate about voluntary assisted dying in NSW is personal for me - my mother died earlier this year following a battle with a terrible disease over a number of years.

There were days when I cried just wishing she would walk, talk or laugh again. It is also easy in these circumstances to understand how people wish it would just end, believing quality of life is over. I don't agree.

In the last 12 months of Mum's life, my eldest daughter was going through a marriage breakdown. It was heart-wrenching for everyone. In the middle of this, my daughter went to visit my mum.

She greeted my daughter with tears and eyes that shared the pain. When my daughter came home, she said, "I have never felt so loved." It was as if my mum's eyes had given her the hug she needed, the tears, the comfort.

Life to life. Soul to soul.

It was a reminder of the beauty and power of life. Surprising, connecting and caring when no one thought this was possible. This is not meant to say I wasn't in anguish at times seeing Mum as she was.

In this debate, we find ourselves on the edge of what it means to be human and looking for an answer. Voluntary assisted dying is introduced to us; it looks neat and easy compared with the messiness and struggle of the natural journey to what we fear might be a difficult death.

But there is nothing neat and easy about agreeing to end a life, however, well-motivated the choice seems. Even writing these words reminds me why we would never consider these options normally.

I think if we understood what can be achieved by modern palliative care, delivered where and when it is needed, and if we stood back as a society and became less afraid of dying and the challenges it brings, we might realise that these moments can be a gift: as I discovered in the dying days of my mother.

Despite good intentions, I just don't think laws can replace human love, compassion and ingenuity. When we lose sight of the intrinsic and immeasurable worth of every moment, for every human life, the laws put in place never protect in the way we hope they might. The unintended consequences can bruise, numb and lessen the spirit of who we are as a people.

Fr Jim Carty led a campaign by the Sydney Alliance to get the concession for newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers living in the community.

For almost six months, members of the Sydney Alliance and other people collected hundreds of thousands of used tickets stubs, as well as receipts for travel on smartcards.

These were then sent to the NSW Premier and Transport Minister as part of the campaign, which also saw thousands of emails sent in support of asylum seekers being granted the cards.

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced the travel concession move last week.

The equivalent of a gold pension concession card, it means eligible asylum seekers will be able to travel across Sydney's transport network at a capped price of A$2.50 per day.

Some 7000 asylum seekers living in Sydney will be helped by the concession from January 1.

Unable to work and receiving less only A$412 a fortnight in benefit income, most asylum seekers in Sydney are living below the poverty line.

By the time they have paid for food and rent for frequently overcrowded accommodation, there is nothing left over for public transport in order to access the assistance they need.

Fr Carty, who is Coordinator of the Marist Asylum Seeker and Refugee Services, applauded Premier Baird's decision to grant the concession.

"NGO services offering asylum seekers assistance, particularly with health and medical care, trauma rehabilitation, language classes and other vital services, are spread out across the city," he said.

"But the cost of getting to each of these services and receiving the help they need made accessing these services extremely difficult and simply added to the stress of what are already traumatised people."

"It is also important for asylum seekers, especially those with families, to be able to access food banks such as Oz Harvest," Fr Carty said.

The priest has worked with refugees and asylum seekers for more than 35 years.

Sources

• Sydney Catholic
• Image: Marist Fathers