X-Message-Number: 6321 Date: Thu, 06 Jun 1996 06:17:33 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Australia law update Two Australian newspapers published articles on June 6th suggesting that a legal challenge to the Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act is imminent. There is a "Coalition Against Euthanasia" there, comprised of the churches, the Australian Medical Association, and Right to Life (which is much weaker in Australia than the United States). However, legal consultants to the Northern Territory Voluntary Euthanasia Society have not been able to identify any grounds for an injunction against the legislation and do not expect a legal challenge to succeed. Following these reports, Peter Weiss, a terminally-ill man in the state of New South Wales who is planning to come to the Northern Territory to die, announced in a radio interview that he will commit suicide if the July 1 start date for the legislation is delayed. In the interview he said that Right to Life was sadistic for wanting to put terminally ill people through even greater pain and suffering. Dr. Philip Nitschke, developer of the euthanasia "death machine," has given several interviews in which he highlights the additional distress being caused to some terminally-ill people by the rumors of further delays. <David Brandt-Erichsen> Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6321