SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

The Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences Act) 2005 has now been enacted. As discussed in previous editions of The VE Bulletin this makes it a crime to use a ‘carriage service’ (email, internet, fax, telephone) for accessing, transmitting, making material available, publishing, or distributing information on material that directly, or indirectly, counsels or incites committing, or attempting to commit suicide.

While the Act states that a person is not guilty of an offence if using a carriage service for ’engaging in public discussion or debate about euthanasia or suicide; or to advocate reform of the law relating to euthanasia or suicide’, it should be noted that terminology in the Act can be interpreted broadly; for instance the words ‘counsel’ and ‘incite’.

As this newsletter cannot provide more than this brief overview of the Act, SAVES members and other interested parties are advised to refer to a full transcript which is available at:

http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/comact/browse/TOCN.php

Newspapers have provided coverage of this law, through articles and letters to the editors. For instance, Greg Barns made the point that terminally ill patients who in the past may have used the telephone to consult a doctor concerning the practicalities of self-deliverance or aspects of medication now face a $100,000 fine (1). He argues that the federal government is justifying implementation of the new law on the same basis that it claims the necessity to sacrifice personal freedoms in the face of potential terrorist acts.

SAVES President, Frances Coombe, had letters published in The Advertiser, The Australian, and The Independent Weekly in response to enactment of the law. She argued:

The Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences) Act 2005 has now been enacted. This is a blatant assault on our right to freedom of information, prohibiting suicide-related information via the internet, email, telephone and fax. This modern-day book burning cannot protect the vulnerable, and instead disempowers people and forces them to ill advised, pre-emptive action. It is a cruel irony that Prime Minister Howard enabled the overturning of the Northern Territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in 1997, thus causing an explosive drive for self-deliverance information. Now he further compounds people's suffering, by restricting access to this information. Shame, shame on this draconian law we would expect to find only in a dictatorship or theocracy. (2)

One correspondent in a national newspaper ‘letters page’ gave candid words of advice:

As of today, free speech on the net about suicide is subject to the whims of the thought police, so I suggest we copy the spammers. Don't mention suicide. Talk about cashing in the chips, buying the farm, falling off the perch, going to happy valley, giving the kids their inheritance, getting totally and permanently wasted, etc. It's a good thing I handed my will instructions to my doctor instead of emailing him.

Marshall Perron, architect of the NT Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, the world’s first voluntary euthanasia legislation, later overturned by the current government, made the following comments on the new law:

As a former politician I know the trade-offs that it takes to make a good idea into law. On the flip side, I am also aware of the dangers of bad laws and the damage that can be done through unintended consequences. The Suicide Related Material Offences Act is modern-day book-burning, yet history tells us that book-burning is the act of the ignorant. (3)

As SAVES is a law reform society, it is not involved in the practicalities of suicide (or self-deliverance). However the organisation receives many calls from people seeking a wide range of information. These include people with a general interest in the voluntary euthanasia law reform movement, as well as some desperately and terminally ill people in severe distress who are offered as much assistance with their enquiries as possible. They have generally exhausted all other options in regaining a quality of life that can ever be acceptable to them.

Other organisations which may provide further information include:

Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organisation: Postal address: 24829 Norris Lane, Junction City, Oregon 97448-9559 USA.
Website: http://www.finalexit.org/
E-mail: ergo@efn.org Messages and FAX: +1 541-998-1873

Dignitas:
Postal address: PO Box 9 CH 8127 Forch Switzerland.
Website: http://www.dignitas.ch/
email dignitas@dignitas.ch Tel international- 41 44 980 44 59
Fax international- 41 44 980 14 21

Exit International:
Address: PO Box 37781 Darwin NT 0821

PO Box 124 Capital Post Waterloo Quay Wellington NZ
Website:http://www.exitinternational.net/contact.php
Phone: 0500 83 1929 within Australia
61 500 83 1929 International
Fax:08 8983 2949 within Australia
61 8 8983 2949 International
Email address: info@exitinternational.net

SAVES again reminds readers of new legal constraints on suicide-related information accessed by any other means than face to face discussion or standard post. Using a carriage service (email, internet, fax and telephone) in contravention of the Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences Act) 2005 may result in prosecution.

References:

(1) ‘New law on suicide attacks freedom’, The Canberra Times, 6th January 2006
(2) ‘Dare not say its name’, The Australian,9th January 2006
(3) ‘Suicide debate law a blow to free speech’, The Age, 5th January 2006