But Archbishop Costelloe cautioned that "every safeguard introduced by on government can be relaxed by another."
He noted that a similar law in Victoria has already drawn criticism from assisted suicide advocates for being too restrictive. The archbishop warned the government could face continued pressure to expand legal assisted suicide. He also cautioned that some countries have moved towards legalizing euthanasia without consent.
Costelloe's videos warned of the risks of assisted suicide and stressed the Fifth Commandment, "thou shalt not kill," as a foundation of "good social order" that is enshrined "in the laws of almost every society in history."
The commandment rejects murder and manslaughter as "grave crimes" with "the harshest legal penalties" for those who break them, Costelloe said. The state government halted the death penalty for fear of causing wrongful death, he noted, and assisted suicide would reintroduce this possibility.
The archbishop sought to address the issue of end-of-life pain and care for the sick and dying.
The parliamentary inquiry received evidence that countered advocates' claims that pain and suffering cannot be relieved in some cases, he said, stressing the importance of proper therapy for severe pain and the need to quadruple the number of palliative care specialists in the country.
"There is no shame on relying on the care of others in time of illness or as death approaches," he said, adding that such a connection and reliance on others "makes us truly human."
As assisted suicide was legalized in the state of Victoria earlier this summer, the four local Catholic bishops criticized the new practice in a letter.
"We cannot cooperate with the facilitation of suicide, even when it seems motivated by empathy or kindness," the bishops said. They cited Pope Francis' characterization of euthanasia as part of a "throwaway culture" and rejected the idea that "the best response our community can offer a person in acute suffering is to end their life."