X-Message-Number: 7082 Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 10:01:38 -0700 From: David Brandt-Erichsen <> Subject: Australia update SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Monday, Oct 28/96). EUTHANASIA COMPROMISE REJECTED By Craig Skewan in Canberra The mover of a private member's bill aimed at overturning the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws has rejected a proposed compromise under which terminally ill people from outside the Territory would not be able to use its provisions. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Howard also believed debate on the Federal bill, and a conscience vote by MPs, should proceed. The Federal Liberal MP whose legislation is to be introduced into Federal Parliament for debate today, Mr Kevin Andrews, said he had legal advice that the proposal from the Territory's Chief Minister, Mr Shane Stone, was unconstitutional. And he said the suggested restriction on its use appeared to be aimed at stalling the Federal parliamentary debate. Mr Andrews said the Territory's legislation sent a signal to suicidal people that they were "better off dead". He said the Territory law had many flaws, including a lack of adequate power for a coroner to investigate the circumstances of a person being given a lethal injection. "If the Commonwealth Parliament cannot debate a matter which goes to the life and death of its citizens, then what's the purpose of a Commonwealth Parliament?" he said. His bill is expected to pass easily in the House of Representatives but the numbers appear to be close in the Upper House, which could send it to a Senate committee for an examination, taking several months. A bipartisan delegation of politicians from the Northern Territory, the ACT and Norfolk Island yesterday presented a "Remonstrance" - an ancient type of formal protest dating back to 1641 - to the Federal Parliament. The submission opposed the Andrews Bill on the ground that it breached the rights of Territories to make their own laws. Mr Andrews defended the Government's decision to have the debate limited to 90 minutes in the main chamber of the House of Representatives before it was sent for further debate in Parliament's main committee. One Opposition MP, Mr Stephen Smith, described the committee as "sideshow alley" and said although he supported the private member's bill, he would continue to press for a full debate in the parliamentary chambers. Dr Robert Marr, from the Coalition of Organisations for Voluntary Euthanasia, rejected the "religious fundamentalist approach" by Mr Andrews and some churches. "They are trying to deny dying patients the right to choose how much suffering they have to endure at the end of their life," Dr Marr said. He said the conservative political grouping within the Liberal Party to which Mr Andrews belonged, the Lyons Forum, wanted to "hijack the political and social agenda" of the Government. Dr Marr said by rejecting Mr Stone's proposal, Mr Andrews had undermined his argument that Federal intervention was necessary because any Australian citizen could travel to the Territory to use its euthanasia law. Mr Rod Dent, whose father, Bob, died under the provisions of the Territory's law on September 22, said yesterday passage of the Andrews bill would signal a return to "medieval days" when churches ruled society. The standing committee of the Anglican General Synod yesterday came out in support of the Andrews bill. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7082