4 Jul 08:
For your diary
Two more meetings will be held in 2008, from 10am on the third Friday in August (15th) and December (19th), at the Gosford Senior Citizens Centre, 217 Albany Street North. Members who wish to could stay on for lunch at the food hall at the top of Gosford Town Centre.
Contact: Romaine Rutnam, 4382 6516, particularly if you would like a lift to and from the meetings.
- Report:
- The meeting held in Gosford on 18 April was attended by 26 members (the largest number ever to a regular meeting, and many for the first time) as well as 3 guests. Since most of our members do not have Internet access, the text of the reply to our December 07 letters to the new Prime Minister and Attorney-General, received from the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Bob Debus, was read to the meeting. We were all disappointed (yet again) at the news that “The Government does not propose amendment of existing Commonwealth laws concerning euthanasia”.
There was much interest in my report from the AGM held in Sydney the previous Sunday, especially my notes on John Dowd AO’s interesting speech titled “The overkill of religion in the law”. Members were very pleased to read of the interest shown by the new members who have joined the committee and wish them well, while thanking sincerely the retiring committee members for their devoted service over the past many years, especially former President Kep Enderby and Treasurer Bob Gallagher.
Several members came up with suggestions for the use of our healthy kitty by our new committee. The most ambitious was that from a new member who had experienced the power of raising funding for a film to lobby for improved hospital services for children (at the time when parents were not allowed to visit for more than 2 hours a day). She suggests the film should be about (consenting) individual people who live in nursing homes, wanting to die but not allowed to, titled “The Condemned”. Other suggestions were:
- funding occasional advertisements in the mass media;
- providing business cards for VESNSW members to give to people they talk to, with space to write in details of the next local meeting of members;
- devising and distributing the postal surveys of members raised at the 2007 AGM regarding options for changing the name of the Society, seeking skills information from members wishing to assist with public speaking, responding to journalists’ and students’ requests for information; seeking interest in visiting sick members and offering transport to meetings; etc and
- taking up Bryan Milner’s suggestions in his March 2008 report from the Northern Rivers.
The meeting noted that five (at least) local members were early submitters of responses to the Senate inquiry to discuss Bob Brown’s Rights of the Terminally Ill (Euthanasia Laws Repeal) Bill 2008, and copies of some of the more interesting submissions were circulated for reading. The late burst of oppositional submissions, and presumably names of petitioners without attached public submissions, as well as the names of those chosen to speak to the Sydney public hearing, do not appear to bode well for a sympathetic response to our views by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
There was widespread support and enthusiasm for the new formats of our newsletter and website, with many thanks offered to Annemaree for her skilful work.
Since our next meeting scheduled for 15 August is not in a Parliamentary sitting week, we are hoping that one or both of our new Federal members will be willing to accept our invitation to be a guest speaker on that day.
Voluntary Euthanasia News from the ACT
(From the ACT Branch of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of NSW) Vol. 3, No. 2, July 2008 Committee: Jeanne Arthur, jeanne_arthur@yahoo.com.au, Secretary; John Brook , 62531128; Clive Monty, camonty@netspeed.com.au; Barbara Mummery, 62412483, Treasurer; Beryl Rawson, br2005@netspace.net.au, Newsletter editor
1. Next General Meeting of the ACT Branch: The next meeting will be held on Thursday, July 17, at 2 pm. It will again be at our new venue, The Weston Club, Liardet Street Weston. The Club is just off Hindmarsh Drive.Three Members of the ACT Legislative Assembly have agreed to speak with us on Voluntary Euthanasia and associated matters:
Do come along and participate, to make it worth the time of three busy politicians.
Members who would like to meet and talk more informally may wish to lunch together at the Club from 12.30 on July 17. A booking will have to be made, so if you wish to come to lunch please contact Jeanne Arthur (e-mail address above; phone 6287 4703) at least a week before the meeting.
2. Annual General Meeting The next meeting scheduled for 2008 is on October 16. This will be the Annual General Meeting. Put the date in your diaries. The agenda will include election of officers and committee.3. At the previous General Meeting (17 April), the scheduled speaker, Susan Byrne of the ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety, did not attend, so there was considerable general discussion about the Branch’s activities and format of meetings. The meeting was an occasion to welcome former members of ACTVES, which has now disbanded, who have become members of our ACT Branch of VESNSW. Since the meeting, the Committee has been considering members’ wish to have a fourth meeting scheduled each year. As agreed at the General Meeting, it would not be necessary to have a speaker at every meeting. We invite members to consider what input they might make, e.g. might a small panel (three?) of you present your thoughts on what you would like to see in new VE legislation?
The Committee has begun action to have name tags made for members. We hope that these might be ready for you to collect at the next meeting on July 17.
4. VESNSW (ACT) submissions and reports
There has been no feedback yet on progress on the ACT Government discussion paper, ‘Consenting to Treatment’, on which we made a submission. (See item below on WA legislation.)
Senator Bob Brown’s Private Member’s Bill, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2008, was referred to a Senate Committee, to which we made a submission. Submissions to this Committee took a variety of stances, on constitutional issues and on intrinsic VE issues. The Committee is expected to report back to Parliament in the week of June 23. We will keep track of progress.
His bill would make it possible for the ACT to legislate for voluntary euthanasia. This poses a dilemma for some ACT politicians, partly because of their personal views and partly because of pressure brought to bear by members of the Rudd Government against aspects of the proposed ACT legislation on same-sex unions, which does not augur well for ACT autonomy in VE legislation.
Estate of Clem Jones, former Lord Mayor of Brisbane. Clem Jones left a generous bequest for the purpose of ‘Changing the law so patients who choose to end their lives could be given ways to do so’. The executors of the estate invited VE societies around Australia to provide them with details about their societies’ history, structure, and objectives. Marshall Perron, former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (and sponsor for the first Rights of the Terminally Ill bill, which operated for some months in the NT until the Andrews legislation overruled it in the federal Parliament), took on the responsibility of combining reports from various States and Territories into a single submission. The ACT report became part of that submission.
5. Interaction with other organisations
We continue to be in touch with Civil Liberties Australia (CLA), based in Canberra, whose wide interests include VE. We hope to have a speaker from CLA at a future meeting.
Beryl Rawson attended a Forum of the ACT Mental Health Consumer Network in May. We have a common interest in ‘Advance Directives’ (officially known in the ACT as ‘Health Directions’). There were interesting and informative presentations and discussion. I have reported our interest in obtaining national reciprocity for such Directions, and they too will look into this. (The ACT recognises such Directions made in other Australian States and Territories.)
6. Keeping VE in the public eye
The topics of VE and various aspects of death and dying are increasingly in the media. We need to encourage that, as an organisation and as individual members.
Most recently (at the time of going to press), there was a full-page article in the Good Weekend section of The Sydney Morning Herald of June 14 on Rodney Syme and his son Bruce Syme. Rodney Syme, based in Melbourne, is the leader of Dying with Dignity. His son (a vet!) has Enduring Power of Attorney for his father and will support his wish to die ‘peacefully, with dignity’.
In May, Radio National’s ‘Life Matters’ had two sessions on ‘Looking at Death’.
7. Books and articles of interest
Members might report to fellow-members on books or articles relevant to VE and associated issues. A recent book to note is a novel by Debra Adelaide, The Household Guide to Dying (Picador), which has received good notices. (The Newsletter editor receives no financial or other inducement for drawing this to your attention!)
We could have a slot on the agenda for each General Meeting to allow a member to report on recent reading and engage in discussion. If you are interested, or have a title to report, please let a member of Committee know.
8. Members’ input
We need more members on the Committee. If the Committee is to respond effectively to requests for more activities, it needs help. Please consider this for the Annual General Meeting in October: nominate yourself, or persuade another member to stand for election. And you don’t have to wait for the AGM: you can be coopted at any time.
Any member who would like to suggest items for the ACT Newsletter or for our meetings is invited to contact the Editor or other members of the Committee (contact details above).
Last modified: Monday 07 July 2008. (10:23)