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Winter (June - August) 1998

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Euthanasia Laid to Rest in Tasmania

In early June the Tasmanian Parliament's Community Development Committee produced a report called The Need for Legislation on Voluntary Euthanasia. Despite the name of the report, it was notable in that it found against euthanasia and received relatively little publicity.

Amongst other things "...the Committee found that the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia would pose a serious threat to the more vulnerable members of society and that the obligation of the state to protect all its members equally outweighs the individual's freedom to choose voluntary euthanasia."


COMMITTEE MEMBER INTERVIEWED

Interviewed on the Graeme Gilbert Breakfast Show (Canberra Radio 2CC, 9 June 1998), Tasmanian parliamentary secretary and committee member, Mr Rene Hidding, explained some of the deliberations behind the report and pointed out that Tasmania is well in step with world trends on this issue. "There is no country in the world where it is legal to practice euthanasia -- nowhere. That's, Northern Territory was the first place in the world and there's been developments in the United States where two individual states had laws that came through that would permit one thing or another which has just been overturned by a 9-0 finding of the Supreme Court there", said Mr Hidding. "In The Netherlands of course, Netherlands is seen as the country, and it's a modern developed country in Europe, at the forefront of this. Now they themselves are realising that they have perhaps gone a step too far and they're looking at modern palliative care methods in the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. And in fact Australia is leading the world in palliative care techniques, which means that euthanasia just isn't necessary."


COMMITTEE SWAYED BY LOGIC

Graeme Gilbert: "Now we should point out, when the five member Tasmanian enquiry began, you were a lone voice; you were against euthanasia before others showed some support for it. Does it mean you've been successful as a debater or what's brought the other four around to your thinking and the general community's thinking?"
Rene Hidding: "Look, sheer weight of logic. There was no pressure either way on members of the committee and they worked very hard to look at all the evidence and we had people flying in from around Australia and in fact offering to fly in from around the world to give evidence. And the final finding was that there is evidence that suggests that abuses may occur and that Tasmania is not immune to it. But it doesn't consider that the legislation of voluntary euthanasia is an appropriate solution to abuses that may have been occurring and that codifying legislation this way wouldn't adequately provide the necessary safeguards against abuse. "So its not to say that it would not be a desirable outcome necessarily, although I don't believe that but others do. The fact is it is simply not possible in the world as we know it at this moment to form some legislation that would seek to provide some benefits to 2-3% of the community who actually came forward in this inquiry and also in the federal inquiry to say that we want the autonomy, we've got the intelligence, we're articulate, we can express our wishes and needs there. You can't codify for those people without putting at extreme risk the other 95% of Australians."

MEMBER FOR MONARO COMMENTS

Member for the NSW state seat of Monaro which adjoins the ACT, Peter Cochrane, later phoned in to the Graeme Gilbert Breakfast Show to comment. "Well, I think it's apparent now, Graeme, that Michael Moore [as far as we are aware, Moore has not announced any recent public push for euthanasia, though his views will of course influence the running of the ACT health system], if he's again pursuing this euthanasia issue, has demonstrated that he is not aligned with the Carnell Government and the majority of people who voted for the Carnell Government in the ACT," Mr Cochrane said. "He has previously stated that he will go soft on drugs with the decriminalisation of various drugs. He is now again pushing the euthanasia issue which has already been rejected by the people of the ACT and in fact everybody else in the world, which again leads me to say that Michael Moore is a round peg in a square hole ... and he has to realise that he's there to represent all the people of the ACT and the surrounding region and that's my great concern. That people in the surrounding region have also rejected the concept of euthanasia and also going soft on drugs and he has to lift his game."