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.


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