February 21, 2014
Philip Nitschke headlines writers festival
THERE was no “road to Damascus moment” for Philip Nitschke, aka Doctor Death.
The thing that motivated Nitschke to speak out about euthanasia for the first time in 1995 was what he describes as the arrogance of another man.
That man was Dr Chris Wake, then president of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Medical Association, who denounced Australia’s first proposed euthanasia bill.
The proposal was “irresponsible”, Dr Wake said, and no doctor in the territory would have a bar of it. That raised Nitschke’s ire because he, for one, thought it was a very sensible idea.
That’s how Nitschke tells it in his new book, Damned if I Do, an autobiography he has written together with Australian crime writer Peter Corris.
Nitschke has been the face of voluntary euthanasia ever since, most recently drawn into the controversy over the Belgian decision to remove age restrictions, now making it available to terminally ill children…
“I think it’s very sensible,” he says. “I think in Belgium it’s been received very well, and there’s strong support for it and there’s strong support in the parliament and what’s interesting is the rest of the world going into paroxysms over it, worrying about what the Belgians are doing.
“The point about it is, and it’s been made pretty well by some Belgian commentators, they have lived with their law for 10 years, they can see ways in which to improve it, and the community wants to see those changes and the parliament is happy to reflect the views of the community. It just sounds like democracy, really.”
Here in Australia, where 80 per cent of people want the legislation for adults, euthanasia advocates have failed to get the legislation through parliament, despite 18 attempts, says Nitschke.
“So if there is any place where the whole democratic process is failing, it’s failing here in Australia.”
For many, however, access to voluntary euthanasia at any age remains a dangerous idea.
And it’s that topic, dangerous ideas, and why it is essential to challenge the status quo, that Nitschke will discuss with fellow Newcastle Writers Festival guests (Russell Blackford, Clementine Ford, Antony Loewenstein, and Clare Wright) at a morning session at Newcastle City Hall on April 5.
On Sunday afternoon, April 6, he will participate in a discussion about what it means to live a good life.
Journalist: Gabriel Wingate-Pearse