Euthanasia Introduction

1. This paper has been prepared as a submission to the Inquiry into the Rights of the Terminally Ill (Euthanasia Laws Repeal) Bill 2008 (hereafter referred to as the ‘Bill’) by the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

2. The Bill, if enacted, will repeal the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997, which in turn repealed the Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 and prohibited the introduction of similar Acts in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Norfolk Island. It will also have the effect of reinstating the Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (the intent of Item 2 of Schedule 1 of the Bill).

3. Consequently, discussion on the merits of the Bill will generally be of two types:

• discussion relating to the rights of legislatures in the Northern Territory, ACT and Norfolk Island to enact legislation supporting the rights of individual citizens to make laws for the peace, order and good government of their territories, including for voluntary euthanasia[1]; and
• discussion relating to the support of voluntary euthanasia more generally, as voluntary euthanasia will once again be a legal activity in the Northern Territory, and could be in other territories (if those jurisdictions legislate for it) if the Bill were enacted.

4. If the Bill were enacted, legislatures in the territories would be able to legislate for voluntary euthanasia. This could mean that a person

• who is terminally ill;
• who feels that their life is not worth living because of intractable pain, and/or loss of dignity and/or loss of capability;
• who repeatedly and actively asks for help in dying;
• who makes their decision freely, voluntarily and after due consideration (and is not suffering from treatable depression);

can have the option of requesting assistance in dying, although each jurisdiction will determine the exact requirements that might apply. The enactment of the Bill will be the humane, moral and civilised outcome for Australia.

5. I approach this issue as a middle-aged Australian male living in the ACT, in good health, who is saddened by the attitude, even arrogance, of those who think they know what is better for terminally ill patients than the patients themselves. Whether or not I ever have the desire to request voluntary euthanasia, I, and many others, want the option of voluntary euthanasia.

6. I am the ACT chapter coordinator for Exit International, the voluntary euthanasia organisation headed by Dr Philip Nitschke, and a member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New South Wales. This paper is provided in my personal capacity.

7. The issues that I examine in this paper are arguments in support of voluntary euthanasia, the rights of legislatures in the Northern Territory, ACT and Norfolk Island to enact legislation supporting the rights of individual citizens, and the desirability of the enactment of the Bill. I provide a strong justification of voluntary euthanasia and the rights of individuals, as well as a condemnation of the provisions of the Euthanasia Laws Act and a rebuttal of the main arguments against the Bill.

8. I would be happy to expand on my paper if required.