X-Message-Number: 7045
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 16:24:16 +1000 (EAST)
From:  (Kitty te Riele)
Subject: Australia update

 NSW = New South Wales, State of which Sydney is the capital.


 October 16, 1996, Sydney Morning Herald

 Carr rules out State poll on euthanasia
 By DAVID HUMPHRIES, MARK RILEY and NATHAN VASS

 The Premier, Mr Carr, has ruled out a referendum in NSW on euthanasia,
saying there was not sufficient "community desire" to follow up on the
suggestion of an Independent MP, Dr Peter Macdonald.
 On the eve of an historic debate in the NSW Parliament, when two
non-parliamentarians will address the MPs for the first time in the State's
history, Dr Macdonald last night foreshadowed a motion to establish an
all-parties committee to frame a referendum question for 1999.
 If debated today or tomorrow, the motion will give MPs the opportunity for
an indicative vote on where the Parliament stands on the euthanasia
question.
 Any such vote has been resisted by Mr Carr, who structured today's debate
so there would be no resolution or communique on which parliamentarians
would show their hands.
 The debate is the NSW response to last month's death in the Northern
Territory of Mr Robert Dent, who was dying of prostate cancer when he
became the first person in the world to have his life ended under lawful
euthanasia.
 Dr Macdonald, the MP for Manly, is one of a handful of MPs who will speak
today in favour of euthanasia. He said yesterday he was comfortable with
there being no formal vote at the conclusion of today's "talkfest" because
a resounding defeat would likely put back the euthanasia cause. His
proposed committee would include pro- and anti-euthanasia MPs.
 At least 50 MPs are expected to speak today for up to 15 minutes each.
 Most are opposed to euthanasia and the issue is considered electorally so
sensitive that some pro-euthanasia MPs have chosen not to identify
themselves for fear of a backlash.
 The Premier, a convert to the anti-euthanasia cause, said last night the
issue was so emotive the proposed Macdonald committee could not possibly
evolve a referendum question acceptable to both sides.
 The highest-ranked politician sympathetic to the pro-euthanasia cause, the
Minister for Health and Deputy Premier, Dr Refshauge, will tell Parliament
he favours the Victorian model of medical power of attorney, in which
others can act to ensure loved ones are not kept alive against their
wishes.
 "I would want the ability to take my life if the ability to function is so
diminished that I believed the life left was not worthwhile," Dr Refshauge
said last night.
 But the Opposition branded today's debate a stunt. The Opposition Leader,
Mr Collins, told Parliament the debate was intended to disguise the absence
of a government legislative agenda.
 He said the emphasis should be more on palliative care providing services
to make death more comfortable for the terminally ill, rather than
assisting death.
 A Labor backbencher, Mr Bob Harrison, declared he would quit the ALP if
the Government introduced a euthanasia bill. The practice was indefensible
morally and ethically, he said.
 An Upper House Independent MP, Mr Richard Jones, a member of a small
working group of pro-euthanasia parliamentarians, said he would consider
bringing on a private member's bill if today's debate showed sufficient
support.


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7045