Winter 2013 DWD NSW Newsletter
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Winter 2013 NEW SOUTH WALES Journal ISSN 0813-5614 Our goal is law reform so that people experiencing unrelievable suffering from terminal or incurable illness can receive, on request, medical help to end their lives. Dying with Dignity NSW is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee ABN 22 002 545 235 PO Box 25 Broadway NSW 2007 website www.dwdnsw.org.au phone 02 9212 4782 fax 02 9211 1498 email [email protected] Contents Page No. President’s Message New South Wales President’s Message 2-3 Treasurer’s Message 3 Rights of the Terminally Ill bill 4 Marshall Perron and the bill 5 Public Forums - Cate & DWD 5 People affected by failure of bill: The past few months have seen us involved in a 5-6 vigorous campaign to support Cate Faehrmann’s - Paul Fletcher Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill. We were all deeply - Loredana Alessio-Mulhall 6 disappointed at the failure of the Legislative Council - James McKay 6 to pass the Bill on 23 May. Cate Faehrmann - Next Step 7 Central Coast Branch Message 7-8 Although most of the ALP members and all the 8 Greens members supported the Bill, all the Liberal Christians Supporting VE Choice and National Party members voted against it. This was in spite of the fact that it was supposed to be a Other Australian States conscience vote. 8-9 DWD ACT Report In spite of this disappointment, we are still Tasmania & South Australia 9 optimistic about the inevitability of legislative Victoria 9-10 reform. We have learned a lot from this campaign, Australia21 Report 10-11 and these lessons will be put to good use for the Voluntary Euthasasia Party 11 next campaign. Comments from politicians, both publicly and International Developments privately, showed that our rational arguments World Federation and SAVE-YA 11 against the factual errors and misinformation from Quebec - Canada 11 our opponents were necessary, but not sufficient. 12 In future, we need to focus more on educating Vermont USA and sensitising politicians to the issue of voluntary England & Scotland 12 assisted dying. This will take time. Convincing Ireland & New Zealand 13 politicians to vote in favour of legalisation requires Book Review: The End 13 us to focus on the processes leading up to the Poem by Brian Haydon 13 parliamentary debate, as well as the policy itself. DWDnsw Membership Form 14 15-16 For a future bill to succeed we will need to generate Letter by Tracie Spicer cross-party interest and support. This will involve helping parliamentarians who already support DWDnsw Committee legislative reform to bring together an informal President - Richard Mills group of like-minded members of parliament. We will be encouraging them to set up a Parliamentary Vice President - Dr Sarah Edelman Committee that will produce a report, which can be Treasurer - Barry Hill used to draft a new bill. Dr Ian Macindoe Tom Kelly We also need to work on generating support from a number of interested professional and community Mary Perrett groups, instead of relying mainly on widespread Pauline Caust public support to convince our politicians. At the Jillianne Weekes same time, we will continue to work on raising Rev. Geoffrey Usher public awareness of the issue by talking to Dr. Christopher Ryan community groups and organising public events. We are very encouraged by three major recent STAFF developments.The first was the release in April Gabrielle Brown - Office Administrator of the report by the independent thinktank, Australia21. They reviewed all the evidence, DWDnsw Winter 2013 Newsletter Page 2 both in Australia and DWDnsw New Members by Month overseas, and concluded that June 2010 to 26 June 2013 appropriate safeguards can 50 be implemented to protect vulnerable people and prevent 40 the abuse that opponents of 30 assisted dying have feared. They urged Australian legislators 20 to act now to introduce law reform for assisted dying. All Members 10 of the NSW Parliament were sent 0 a copy of the report. The second major event was the news in May that the legislature in Overall, DWDnsw received Please consider upgrading the Vermont, a state of the USA, had $48,000 from our members for status of your membership to Life passed a law to allow terminally ill our campaign fund. We spent and encourage friends and family patients seeking to end their own $46,000, which included the to join DWDnsw. lives to receive medical help to cost of hiring political lobbyists, die. This is a major step forward media advisors, regional In 2013, we have received for the global dying with dignity travelling expenses and printing/ donations or new membership movement. postage costs (for mail-outs to fees from 35% of those who are members, flyers for events, letters now members (which includes And the third significant event to politicians etc.). We hired a those who joined DWDnsw in the was in June, when the Quebec part-time person to help us with last few months). Government introduced an research and community liaison Some of the larger donations assisted dying law that will be work for six weeks, and Gabrielle include: $2000 each from a debated in September and is doubled her regular office work new Life Member at Lightning expected to pass.More details hours to cover the additional Ridge and a long-standing Life about these three developments workload. are in this newsletter. Member in Double Bay; $1000 As a result of the many public each from Life Members in Berry, Finally, but most importantly, forums in 2013 and a very active Lane Cove, Spit Junction and I want to thank our members recruitment campaign, we have Blacktown; $500 each from Life who generously donated funds had a substantial number of new members in Strathfield, Armidale, towards the campaign, and who members, as you can see from Thornleigh, Coledale, Narrabeen, contacted state MPs to ask them the graph above which tracks new Mount Druitt, Woollahra, Surry to support the Bill. I assure you membership over the last 3 years. Hills, Paddington and Forresters that we will go on to win on this Beach and $500 from an annual issue. Our membership has grown, in member in Milperra. spite of the fact that most of our Best Wishes, members living in the ACT have DWDnsw still needs to cover left to join Dying with Dignity our day-to-day operating ACT Incorporated (a branch of expenses, including rent, utilities, Richard Mills DWDnsw until late 2012). In insurance, part-time staff, website maintenance, other computer DWDnsw President addition, as many of our members tend to be “older” (our largest costs, printing and postage. We age bracket is 75 to 85 years), also need to have funds ready to Treasurer’s Message there is a little natural attrition! We mobilise for the next campaign, currently have 1,720 members, of which could be at any time. whom 477 are Life Members. I would like to thank our members Thank you for your continued for their generous financial Twenty-two members have support, support during the recent generously upgraded to Life campaign for The Rights of the Membership during 2013. They Terminally Ill Bill. We had to have made a one-off payment spring into action quickly once of $500, which shows a great it was announced that Bill was commitment to DWDnsw and likely to be introduced to NSW means they do not have to worry Barry Hill Parliament in early May. about further subscription fees. Treasurer DWDnsw DWDnsw Winter 2013 Newsletter Page 3 not a single Coalition member The Rights of the voted in favour of the Bill. It was Terminally Ill Bill hard to believe it was a conscience vote. Clearly, On May 23, members of the NSW pressure was placed on some Legislative Council voted against members to not support my Bill” the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill she said. sponsored by Greens MP,Cate Faehrmann. The final vote was 13 in favour, 23 opposed and four abstentions. Tamworth-based National MP, Trevor Khan (pictured above), During the debate there were spoke very emotionally about his emotional scenes in Parliament, own father, who developed cancer with MPs presenting impassioned in his 80’s and subsequently had arguments for and against the a series of strokes that left him proposed legislation. unable to walk, incontinent and Cate Faehrmann after the vote. mentally debilitated for three- Following the defeat of Cate and-a-half years, until his death. Faehrmann’s Rights of the Disappointingly, Mr Khan chose to Terminally Ill Bill in the NSW abstain rather than vote in favour Upper House, three members of the Bill. of the NSW Lower House have pledged to introduce a similar bill into the Legislative Assembly. Independent members Greg Piper and Alex Greenwich, together with Greens MP Jamie Labor MP Penny Sharpe Parker are planning to introduce (pictured above) was reduced a bill some time later this year. to tears: “To the many who have shared your stories, I have not Deputy Leader of the Opposition A recent communication from forgotten, nor will I forget, the in the Legislative Council, Alex Greenwich stated that he is pain and suffering you are going Adam Searle (pictured above) looking forward to working with through.” said during the debate “ Where Dying with Dignity to run a strong change has occurred it has campaign, to give the bill the best occurred because people with possible chance of succeeding. goodwill have worked across parties and across communities, often in a deliberative way, and over time they have produced a consensus. From what I have sensed in this debate, the ultimate outcome in this place may be as much shaped by process as by the content of the Jamie Parker, Alex Greenwich, Labor MP Helen Westwood bill itself.