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

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: 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

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