| March/April
2005 Updates Promoting suicide
online outlawed
By
Lelia Green in Perth, Australia, March 2005. Australian
Senator Chris Ellison, Minister for Justice and Customs, has been adding fuel
to the fiery debate about euthanasia. The Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related
Material Offences) Bill 2005 creates the offence of using the Internet to spread
information about how to commit suicide. Last year similar restrictions were canvassed
as part of the Crimes Legislation (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures)
Bill, 2004, as reported in the ABC Radio National's Law Report, but which has
yet to be enacted (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/lawrpt/stories/s1099850.htm).
Electronic Frontiers Australia was one of a number of organisations criticising
that proposed legislation (http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/efasubm-agd-teleco.html).
The recently-announced restrictions are widely interpreted as specifically
targeting the activities of Dr Philip Nitschke's Euthanasia Lobby Group, Exit
Australia & New Zealand (EXIT). This lobby group has been very successful
in raising the issues of assisted suicide and euthanasia, and claim that they
have the support of a majority of Australians. Nitschke acquired the role of key
spokesperson for the "right to die" debate after the Northern Territory
adopted euthanasia legislation in 1996, The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act,
prior to it being overturned by the Australian Senate in March 1997.
Since that time Nitschke has experienced administrative interference in the operation
of his voluntary organisation which many commentators see as constituting a serious
infringement of his civil liberties (and the civil liberties of members of his
organisation). For example, in the Law Report programme Nitschke tells the story
of embarking on what he thought was a routine flight: "I suddenly got taken
off out of the queue in Customs at Melbourne Airport - firstly on my way to America,
taken into the room and found my suitcase had been taken off the plane and everything
was out on the table. And I was told that there'd been an amendment which I knew
nothing about, of Regulation 13 GA of the Customs Act, and this had taken place
without my knowledge, saying that it was a crime and absolutely prohibited to
import or export not only devices that could be used to assist in a suicide, but
also information about those devices".
The most recent suggestion
is that email communication between members of EXIT about techniques of assisting
or committing suicide would constitute an offence, while members would no longer
be able to access the secure (password protected) areas of the EXIT website that
carry equivalent information. Senator Ellison portrays the legislation as necessary
to protect vulnerable and impressionable people and points to the many resources
expended by Australian authorities in trying to reduce the numbers of youth suicides.
EXIT claims that their members are typically people in the final years of their
life, many of whom have terminal or debilitating illnesses, who wish to avail
themselves of information and choice regarding how they will die.
Senator Ellison's preferred legislative approaches have been criticised
for restricting legitimate debate and making it a criminal offence to explore
humane and empowered ways to address and end individual suffering. Nitschke's
organisation is international, and it is possible for other jurisdictions to carry
the information on behalf of EXIT Australia, but the legislation could require
Australian ISPs to restrict access to the overseas sites. Nonetheless, the group
sees the matter of principal as an important one, along with continuing debate.
Nitschke has a range of possible responses to this kind of legislation: "One
of those strategies is that we will have a large number of members, each running
their own websites, and all simultaneously putting material up."
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