by Bishop Anthony Fisher This article first appeared in the Sydney Morning HeraldOn Wednesday, a Senate committee will hear evidence on a euthanasia bill that would allow some people to be given a lethal injection on compassionate grounds. Continue reading

  There's been a great deal of media around Senator Di Natale's talk of a national euthanasia law. That's understandable: it is the first of its kind and will clearly generate significant debate.The Senator calls his bill an 'exposure draft' bill. He hasn't introduced it into the Senate - he has simply asked the chamber to refer the bill to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for an inquiry. Continue reading

Ever since the euthanasia bill was tabled in the Canadian provincial parliament in Quebec, HOPE has been expecting that a similar bill would be developed for Australia. A new bill, called the Medical Services (Dying with Dignity) Bill 2014 was made public as an exposure draft by Senator Richard Di Natale in Canberra today.UPDATE (25th June): This bill has been referred by the Senate to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for an Inquiry. The report date is the 27th of October. Continue reading

In his  Address in Reply speech to the Governor General's speech at the recent opening of the new Federal Parliament, outspoken South Australian Senator, Cory Bernardi, railed against the continued push in Australian States for euthanasia. Continue reading

Early days and the final make up of the successful Senate candidates from Saturday's election may not be actually known for sometime. With between 60% and 70% of the vote counted, however, there is a clear trend away from the dominance of the major parties in some states.     Continue reading

  Attempts to overturn the Federal have occurred often and over many years now - all in the Senate chamber. The Senate, will be the chamber that deliberates further on euthanasia in the coming parliament. Continue reading

You've got to give Dr Philip Nitschke some credit for telling it like it really is. Whilst Australia's state-based euthanasia lobby groups and their state-based MP supporters argue for limited legislation with so-called safeguards, Nitschke has consistently advocated for legalisation of euthanasia in a virtually unrestricted fashion - save only for the exclusion of minors and people with mental incapacity.  Some of the state-based groups have formally distanced themselves from Nitschke and Exit because of this; while for others, the relationship is a little less clear.  While they work to make their approach seem palatable to the public and polity alike, Nitschke's presence is a source of frustration because his is the logical end of even the most minimalistic approach. Continue reading

  On the 18th of August the Senate debated and passed Senator Brown's .  Originally titled the  Continue reading

Labor caucus backs Brown's Territories Rights Bill Bob Brown seems once again to have proven who wears the pants in the Greens on-again-off-again love match with Julia Gillard and Federal Labor.Readers may recall that in early March of this year the Federal Labor caucus backed Brown's Territories Rights Bill only later to have that support overturned when concerned Labor MPs pointed out that the bill would facilitate both same-sex marriage and euthanasia laws in the Northern and Capital Territories.  Following on from that, the Prime Minister publicly declared that she did not support either issue; comments that had some, including this writer, believing that a conscience vote would be allowed which would give us a fighting chance of seeing the bill defeated. Continue reading

What a fascinating 24 hours in Federal politics! As suggested in yesterday's post, Bob Brown's  has been referred to the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee with a report date of the 21st of March. Continue reading