June 30, 2016
Euthanasia Laws Imminent in Australia says Nitschke
Two decades after the Northern Territory enacted world-first laws legalising euthanasia, an ageing Australian population is clamouring for the right to end their lives when they choose, says campaigner Philip Nitschke.
On July 1, 1996, the NT passed the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, which allowed a doctor to provide lethal drugs or administer a lethal injection to a terminally ill person.
Four Australians took their own lives to end their pain in the eight months the law was in operation, before being overturned by the federal parliament in 1997.
But Dr Nitschke says it’s only a matter of time before voluntary euthanasia is legislated again.
“What has changed in the last 20 years is this growing group of people who say they want to be able to control when they die,” he told AAP.
“The idea of elderly people getting lawful access to the drugs which will allow them to peacefully die when they choose for whatever reason, that’s a much more controversial area. But it’s one where we’ve seen the biggest growth in people (supporting it) as I think we’re seeing the ageing of baby boomers, who are used to getting control.
“That cohort now are increasingly clamouring for far more than simply a very restrictive model (of euthanasia) which would require them to wait until they were just about dead before they’d be able to access it.”
Those Australians want to be in control of their own eventual peaceful death, Dr Nitschke said.
“The idea of having the drugs in the cupboard, so to speak, securely stored, is one that strikes a real note of support amongst the ageing … They say, ‘my life is my choice and I make that decision, no one else’.”
There have been more than 20 attempts to pass varying pieces of euthanasia legislation around Australia over the past two decades, and Dr Nitschke said it is likely that eventually a very restrictive model will be passed in one of the smaller states such as Tasmania or South Australia.
“There’s almost a bit of a race going on as to which state can be more progressive in this area,” he said.
“This year or next year we’ll see a piece of restrictive but nevertheless legislation which will probably allow a very sick person under strict medical control to be given the drugs which they will then have to take themselves.”