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

by Paul Russell: In what is clearly becoming a drip feed exercise, Dr Brian Owler, head of Premier Daniel Andrews' advisory panel charged with creating an assisted suicide law for Victoria, was talking in the pages of The Australian newspaper (again) about the supposed safeguards he and his team are working on.The latest supposed 'safeguard' is what they're calling a 'time to live' option. Whereas the original recommendation of the parliamentary committee was that assisted suicide be made available in the last 'weeks and months' of life, Owler's committee wants to make that definition clearer at a fixed point. Well, supposedly clearer because Owler is not telling us where this supposed line in the sand will be drawn; not yet anyway. Continue reading

Elder Abuse in Victorian Nursing Homes by Paul Russell: Anyone who cannot see that coercion and abuse of the elderly and infirmed confirms that assisted suicide and euthanasia can never be made safe from abuse really isn't paying attention. Continue reading

by Paul Russell: An expert panel has recently been formed in Victoria at the request of the Premier, Daniel Andrews, tasked with creating 'safe' assisted suicide laws.Even though the earlier Parliamentary Committee on end-of-life issues never actually made a reasoned case for euthanasia and assisted suicide, they still recommended that the government look to create such a law and the Premier accepted their recommendation last December. Continue reading

When doctors are authorised to kill their patients, fundamental social values undergo a tectonic shift by Debra Vermeer (first appeared in the Catholic Press and then on Mercatornet)The practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide overseas has been a disaster, with so-called safeguards failing and doctor-assisted killing on the rise, and not just for the terminally ill, says world-renowned ethicist Professor Margaret Somerville. Continue reading

by Paul RussellAustralian media escalates debate - but with little substance. The push for euthanasia has resumed in Australia following the Christmas break. Well at least it seems so given all the attention by Australian journalists to the issue this week.In the latest barrage, the Sydney Morning Herald published not one, not two but three euthanasia articles online simultaneously yesterday (16th Jan) at 5:00am. Continue reading

Case not made and legislation 'unworkable' says Labor MP By Paul Russell: Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury and Finance, Daniel Mulino (pictured), has hit back at suggestions that assisted suicide and euthanasia can ever be made safe in an article in The Australian today. Continue reading

By Paul Russell: It is perhaps a statement of the obvious that those who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide are never happy about the passage of such laws. Paradoxically, those that propose them and those that support them are never really satisfied either.There are a number of ways we can look at this reality. The most obvious angle is that, no matter how the laws are framed, there will always be a developing tension over time created by and on behalf of people who don't qualify. Such is the case at the moment in Canada where, in an act of appeasement to get their law through the Ottawa Parliament last year, a promise was made to look further into euthanasia and assisted suicide for minors, for mental health reasons and via advance directives. Studies are now underway to advance these causes. Continue reading

Melbourne 8th December - Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews MP announced today that he is committing to introducing euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation into the Parliament midway through next year. The announcement comes at the close of the six-month deadline for the government to respond to the Legal and Social Issues Committee's Inquiry into end of life choices tabled in July. Recommendation 49 of that report suggested that the parliament move towards framing a new law.Mr Andrews' media release says that his government will create a 'Ministerial Advisory Panel made up of clinical, legal, consumer, health administrator and palliative care experts' to create the framework for the new law. The release further advises that a discussion paper will be released early in 2017 for public comment. The legislation is expected to be introduced into the parliament from July 2017. Continue reading

  The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews MP will respond some time later this week to recommendation 49 of the 'End-of-Life Choices' Victorian Parliamentary report that suggested an assisted suicide regime for Victoria.Once clearly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide, Andrews has conceded more recently that his recent experience of the death of his Father now tells him that, '(Y)ou have to allow those things to (let you)...perhaps take a fresh look at things,' he told The Australian today. Continue reading