by Paul Russell: Anyone who has ever sat on an awards committee knows well that there are standards to be met. Make the award too easy to attain or provide it to someone who has not met the criteria and the currency of the award is diminished. Raise the bar too high and no-one applies.At Exit International they must have ridiculously low standards. Exit boss and former medical doctor, Philip Nitschke recently awarded his so-called 'Peaceful Pill Prize' to an elderly Australian couple essentially because the woman concerned recently cried a patronising 'bullshit' at Professor Margaret Somerville on an Australian National current affairs program. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: As the Victorian Ministerial Advisory Panel on 'assisted dying' makes ready to release its interim report sometime in April, The Age newspaper turned its attention to the matter of conscience; to be precise: the ability of a doctor to refuse to take part in any action that would bring about the premature and deliberate death of a person.Conscience - or the ability to draw upon ones own personal belief system in making a decision about an action - plays out at different levels in any debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: A colourful exchange during ABC TV's panel program Q and A recently on the question of euthanasia and assisted suicide drove home to me the stark reality that what we're really talking about here is a lifestyle choice.We are well used to hearing the hackneyed sloganing around 'choice' that accompanies any discussion these days on this subject. Why wouldn't we all want 'choice' at the end of life? As far as it goes, choices are a good thing; but they don't come without consequences and nor should our society endorse every individual choice about all manner of things. There anarchy lies! Continue reading

by Paul Russell: British Actress, Comedian, broadcaster, Liz Carr, known internationally for her work opposing assisted suicide as a disability campaigner as well as her role in the BBC forensics drama, Silent Witness, has been in Melbourne, Australia for the last few weeks with her show: Assisted Suicide: The Musical.Part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Liz's show is incredibly funny as it is poignant. Simply put; it is a great night out designed to make people think about the issue of assisted suicide. Pegged by Liz as a 'Ted Talk with show tunes' the show is a rollicking feast of songs in the great tradition of show tunes interspersed with Liz talking to the audience about her experiences and concerns about assisted suicide. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: The recent Western Australian State election created a new Labor Government, replacing the longstanding Liberal Government.In what must be said to be an unfortunate growing trend amongst the leaders of the two main state-based political parties across the country, the new Premier, Mark McGowan has made no secret of his support for euthanasia over a number of years and over two successive elections. Continue reading

British actress, comedian, broadcaster and disability activist, Liz Carr is in Melbourne with her show: Assisted Suicide: The Musical. This is an edited transcript of her address to Victorian Parliamentarians who will likely debate assisted suicide later this year. I don't come at this from a religious point of view. I'm not coming here to tell you what to do.I'm telling you what I believe and how it worked in the UK, because in the UK, in 2015, the Rob Marris Assisted Dying Bill that was defeated in the House of Commons. Continue reading

By Debra Vermeer More than 30 of Australia and New Zealand's top palliative care practitioners have joined forces to oppose the introduction of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, describing the practice as "unnecessary and unsafe".A letter, authored by Professor Douglas Bridge and co-signed by 32 other palliative care specialists and medical professionals was published in this week's edition of the Medical Journal of Australia's MJA InSight. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: In June last year the Legal and Social Issues Committee of the Victorian Parliament released its report in the matter of the 'Inquiry into End of Life Choices'.Recommendation 49 of that report called upon the Victorian Parliament to legislate assisted suicide for people, "suffering from a serious and incurable condition which is causing enduring and unbearable suffering" and that these persons must be "at the end of life (final weeks or months of life)". Continue reading

By Paul Russell: The Courier Mail newspaper reports a 19% increase in elderly Gold Coast residents seeking legal support for Elder Abuse accoprding to figures released by the Community Legal Centres Queensland (CLCQ).The Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast were identified in a Parliamentary Report on Elder Abuse last year as two areas of Queensland that required particular attention because of the rise of Elder Abuse. The report does not speculate on why these areas in particular, but it seems likely that the trend over a number of decades now for people from the southern states in particular moving to these regions in their retirement is likely to present a number of policy problems over coming years - including Elder Abuse. Continue reading

How a person dies affects others, not just in the present but in the future.by Margaret Somerville Some time ago, I was a member of an ethics committee set up as part of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization established by the Canadian Government to advise it on how it should deal with the complex issue of the disposal of nuclear waste.At the first meeting of the committee, the chairperson asked us each to introduce ourselves and to make some brief remarks relevant to the disposal issue. Continue reading