X-Message-Number: 6987 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 06:15:53 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Australia update September 27, 1996 Sydney Morning Herald MERCY DEATH SPLITS NATION By Jodie Brough Emotions spilt over in the euthanasia debate yesterday, with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Fischer, declaring the first mercy killing under Northern Territory law the beginning of a "culture of death" and MPs saying a bill overruling the law might be blocked in the Senate. Anti-euthanasia politicians brushed aside the death bed plea by Mr Bob Dent to abandon their push to outlaw the NT Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, saying they would act in the public interest rather than be swayed by individual cases. Mr Dent, who had prostate cancer, became the first person in the world to die under euthanasia legislation when he used a computer-operated machine to inject himself with lethal drugs in Darwin last Sunday. The private member's bill to overturn the NT law is due to be debated in the House of Representatives on October 28 but support is fluid, with the impact of Mr Dent's death still unclear. While the debate has split all factions across all parties, it is likely that the Victorian Liberal Mr Kevin Andrews's bill will pass the House. However, MPs predicted that it will have a stormy passage in the Senate. The bipartisan Senate committee examining the bill believes it could "trespass unduly on personal rights and liberties". In other developments: * The Greens' Senator Bob Brown said he would try to introduce a pro-euthanasia bill next month in a bid to head off Mr Andrews's bill. It would be based on the NT law and a draft by the NSW AIDS Council. * It emerged that the Government Leader in the Senate, Senator Hill, might rush Mr Andrews's bill into the Senate after the anti-euthanasia Independent Senator Brian Harradine said it was an important issue. * The Victorian Premier, Mr Kennett, attacked the Andrews bill as "an insult to humanity", calling on the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, Mr Beazley, to "butt out" and respect the right of the dying to choose their time of death. * Pro-euthanasia groups in NSW, including the Doctors Reform Society and the NSW Council for Civil Liverties, announced they had formed the Coalition of Organisations for Voluntary Euthanasia (COVE). * The Premier ruled out euthanasia legislation for NSW. Mr Howard remained silent on the issue yesterday but Mr Fischer said the NT move was a step away from the culture of life towards the "culture of death". "What might be one deliberate Darwin death this week has the capacity to be a good deal more down the path worldwide," he said. "I remainimplacably opposed but I do respect the right of people who may have a different view to mine on the matter." Mr Beazley declined to comment on Mr Dent's death,saying that his personal opposition to voluntary euthanasia remained unchanged. Mr Andrews said he was "personally saddened" at Mr Dent's death but dismissed his open letter expressing horror at the MP's actions as "very emotive". He said he did not know what effect Mr Dent's death would have on the debate but that some people he had spoken to had expressed "a sense of recoil" now that euthanasia was no longer hypothetical. "We are now faced by the stark reality of what's involved in this national discussion," he said. Dr Philip Nitschke, who assisted at Mr Dent's death, said yesterday that five more people, three from interstate, were seeking euthanasia and that the law might be used again within weeks. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6987