The New Autobiography of Dr Philip Nitschke

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July - September 2013 damned if i do the new autobiography of dr philip nitschke

After more than two years in the days of student activism, to adulthood seen him challenge the medical writing, Dr Philip Nitschke’s and a hotbed of social and political establishment and has led to multiple autobiography will be published issues that have included Aboriginal inquiries into his medical registration this month by Melbourne University land rights, nuclear disarmament, to and the banning of his internationally Press. The back cover of the book voluntary euthanasia today. bestselling book, The Peaceful Pill reads: Handbook. Never one to shirk controversy, Damned If I Do is the controversial, Philip’s belief that all rational adults Damned If I Do examines the life that revealing and personal story of should have the means to end their has led Philip to his commitment to the man behind Australia’s pro- lives peacefully and reliably has a fully deregulated approach to death euthanasia movement, told in his and dying. own words. Philip Nitschke: Philip Nitschke - physicist, medical ‘What type of doctor, activist - has always lived in ‘gift’ is life, if the spotlight. Damned If I Do follows one lacks the his life from boyhood, through his autonomy and ability to give IN THIS ISSUE this gift away at 1 Damned If I Do: Book Launch the time of one’s 2 Vote 1: Voluntary Euthanasia Party choosing?’ 3 VEP Campaign Launch on Mon 19 August at Cruising Yacht Club of Aust Written with 4 Book Tour Dates & Campaign Forums Peter Corris, 4 Aug 2013 PPeH Update: Long Term of the book Nembutal Storage Techniques Philip says ‘I 5 Exitorial was very pleased 6 Exit 2013 European Tour Report when MUP 7 Damned If I Do - cont Editor in Chief, 8 Join Exit Form & Exit Store Louise Adler, Cont p. 7

July - September 2013 Page 1 of 8 vote 1 - voluntary euthanasia party When Australia goes to the polls on 7 September 2013, supporters of Voluntary Euthanasia will be able to voice meet the vep candidates for election 2013 their objection in regard to the failure of politicians to represent the community’s wishes honestly on the topic of Voluntary Euthanasia. Even though the VEP Party is newly formed and while this will be the Party’s first elec- australian tion, high quality candidates have been recruited in two capital states and two territories of Australia. territory - Heading the campaign is Exit’s Dr Philip Nitschke who senate will stand for the Senate in the ACT. Long time Can- berra Exit Member Susan MacDougall will occupy the second Senate spot for the VEP. In New South Wales, long-term MS sufferer Loredana Mulhall and Shayne Higson will be standing for the Senate. In South Aus- tralia, the VEP ticket is headed by Max Bromson (who has a rare form of bone cancer) and Veterinarian Dr Dr Philip Nitschke Mike Boerema. Shayne and Mike were both inspired to join the VEP after watching their mothers die badly and & with little dignity in the past year. Finally, in the North- Mrs Susan MacDougall ern Territory, long-time Territorian Martin Burgess has thrown his hat into the ring to represent the VEP for the House of Representatives in the seat of Solomon. Mar- tin is suffering from bowel cancer.

The full biographies of all candidates can be read on the new south wales - senate VEP website at: www.vep.org.au

While some maintain that VE is an issue for State Governments only, Australia’s three-tiered structure of government has a long history of sharing responsibil- ity on matters which are not expressly addressed in the nation’s Constitution. It makes good sense to take a national rather than parochial state-based approach to an issue with such far-reaching and national concerns and ramifications.

The Voluntary Euthanasia Party will launch its campaign at 11am on Monday 19 August 2013 at the Ms Loredana Mulhall Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. &

Because places are limited, priority will be given to those Ms Shayne Higson who have/ are planning to donate to the VEP party and (right) all Exit Life Members. Attendance is by RSVP only. Please phone Philip on 0407-189-339 to register your attendance.

July - September 2013 Page 2 of 8 vep party campaign launch @ cruising yacht club of austalia The official campaign launch of the Voluntary Eutha- nasia Party will be held at the beautiful Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (home of the Sydney - Hobart Yacht Race) at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney at:

11am on Monday 19 August 2013 - RSVP essential

All candidates will give a brief outline of their back- ground and the reason why they are standing (some at considerable personal cost). The Voluntary Euthanasia Party will launch its inaugural Fed- Of the VEP, Dr Nitschke says: eral Election Campaign at the CYCA on Monday 19 August

‘The VEP party is the most exciting new party in The CYCA is located at: 1 New Beach Road, Darling Australian politics today. No other party carries a Point at Rushcutters Bay. Morning Tea will be served. mission statement that enjoys such overwhelming community support. For this we must be grateful to To get involved / volunteer with the VEP or make a Corey McCann. donation, please visit:

A Territorian by birth, Corey has been the brains Web: www.VEP.org.au behind the VEP. Still in his 20s, he has been a pow- Email: [email protected] erhouse of enthusiasm & commitment in creating a Facebook: party from scratch. He is to be congratulated!’ https://www.facebook.com/VoluntaryEuthanasiaParty

mv eet the ep candidates for election 2013

northern territory - south australia house of representatives - senate

Mr Max Bromson

Dr Mike Boerema (right)

Mr Martin Burgess

July - September 2013 Page 3 of 8 BOOK tour dates vep forums in canberra To coincide with the publication of Philip Nitschke’s Dr Philip Nitschke will be representing the Voluntary new autobiography (written with Peter Corris), Philip Euthanasia Party at two high-profile forums in Canberra will be speaking at the following: in the run-up to the 7 September Federal Election. Exit would encourage Canberra members to show their sup- Melbourne port & come along to one or both. Readings Bookshop Hawthorn: Monday 9 September @ 6pm for 6.30pm (Official Melbourne Launch) Australia Institute: Politics in the Pub 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn ‘Is Australia Dying for Policy Change on VE?’ with Dr Philip Nitschke Embiggen Books: Tuesday 10 September @ 6.30pm 197-203 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne Where: Lounge Bar, Level 3, Uni Pub, 17 London Circuit, Canberra Sydney When: 6pm on Wednesday 21 August (doors open Gleebooks: Wed 11 September @ 6pm for 6.30pm 5.30pm) start (In conversation with Phillip Adams & to be re- corded for RN Late Night Live), 49 Glebe Point Rd Getup - ACT Senate Candidates Debate Canberra ANU/Canberra Times Public Lecture: Thursday 19 Where: Enugu, Chemistry Building, ANU September @ 6pm, Manning Clark Centre, Australian When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 28 August National University, Canberra

Adelaide Dillons Bookstore Norwood: Date tbc (To be launched by Anne Levy) (Call MUP on 03- 9342-0300 for details)

Darwin Friday 27 September @ 5.30pm, details tbc (To be launched by Daryl Manzie) August 2013 update - PP ehandbook Brisbane Avid Reader Bookstore: Date tbc in mid Sept, 193 • New techniques for the long-term stor- Boundary St, West End (Call MUP on 03-9342-0300 age of Nembutal for details) • Warning: US Internet Nembutal Web- to order your copy of damned if i do site Scam Once published at the end of August, Damned If I Do will be widely available in bookstores. Melbourne Unvi- • Update on Mexican Nembutal eristy Press are pleased to offer all Exit Members a 20% discount on purchases for the month of September if A Subscription to the online Peaceful Pill eHand- they order through the MUP online store at: book costs US$85 for 24 months & includes all www.mup.com.au updates & access on approval to Exit’s Peaceful Pill Promo code is EXIT20 Q&A forums. This offer includes free shipping within Australia on or- www.peacefulpill.com ders of 2 books or more. OS orders must pay shipping.

July - September 2013 Page 4 of 8 EXITORIAL creating a national ve movement The point is that political support for VE is a cross-political The experienc of re-locating to Canberra to stand for the undertaking. One needs to tread carefully to bring those who Senate in the ACT and represent Australia’s first national VE believe in end of life rights together as one; in politician speak, political party has been a sweet and sour experience. one must emphasise the common goal not the ideological divide. This is why I think a VEP party is such a clever idea. The joy has come from meeting supporters from all over the Members do not need to sign away their political beliefs on country; people who see benefit in creating a national, united other issues to lend their support. And no one who joins the voice to try and get a VE law over the line (or to at least make VEP will be coopted for political purposes other than VE. In the politicians of the nation sit up and take notice). This my mind, this is a strong and compelling reason to get behind has been good. What has not been so good is the seeming the VEP. And that includes Australia’s various small state-based recalcitrance of the state-based VE societies. With the groups. To do otherwise looks unnecessarily churlish. exception of WAVES in the West who were the first to get involved making a significant donation ($5000) to the VEP’s On a different note, the past month saw a very successful Exit campaign, the other societies have been largely silent. European tour. As has become the norm when in the UK, the London workshop was packed to capacity. It was especially In talking with the NSW DWD group, it has become apparent rewarding to be able to demonstrate Max Dog Nitrogen for that resentment against political campaigns has emerged due the first time; and to have the first shipment of MDB cylinders to a feeling that that organisation’s time and resources were arrive around the same time, thereby proving that the method appropriated by former Greens MP Cate Faehrmann in her has global ‘appeal’ and that Exit members all over the world efforts to have her Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill passed can now order MDB and be confident that it will arrive by sea in the NSW Parliament. The more cynical have suggested (albeit it with a few months delay). that Cate had more to gain than the actual Bill as the local publicity which the Bill generated has created a profile for her Despite the small band of black-robed demonstrators who subsequent run for the Senate in the forthcoming election. were paid to picket the London workshop, no other meetings While I supported Kate’s efforts at the time, I did look on attracted protest, not even Dublin. Reminiscent of the early in wonder during her campaign, curious about why a non- days in the UK, when venues would accept our booking only political group such as DWDNSW would align themselves so to cancel shortly before we were due to visit, the Dublin venue closely with a single candidate and a single party. broke through and stood their ground. Liberty Hall is the home of the trade union movement in Ireland. The unionists At Exit, members have long made their views on the Australian who staffed the front doors on the day of our meeting were Greens known. Our organisation seems to have as many men of their word. They did not cancel but then why would members of the left as we do members who vote conservative. they? The elderly folk who attended the workshop were no And this is one of the remarkable quirks of voluntary different to the Exit members who have attended our meetings euthanasia. This is an issue which crosses the political divide. in Melbourne, San Francisco, Toronto or Amsterdam. No one In the Northern Territory back in the mid 90s, it was Marshall has two heads. They - we - are simply folk aged in their later Perron who got the ball rollling. I don’t think Marshall would years who want information about how to control their lives disagree when I say that there would be few politicians in the (and deaths). It is and should be no big deal. country (past or present) who are more conservative than him. At the other end of the spectrum is Bob Brown (former Finally, a plug for my book and word of thanks to my co-author leader of the Greens) who was incredibly supportive of me Peter Corris. As two sixty-somethings, we wrote this book the and strident in his objection to the Kevin Andrews Act when hard way with a lot of interruptions. I am very grateful for his that Bill led to the overturning of the original Rights of the work and his friendship. I am humbled to have my story told, Terminally Ill Act. warts and all. I hope members enjoy the read. Philip Nitschke

July - September 2013 Page 5 of 8 exit european tour report

Exit’s European Summer Tour undertaken in June - July 2013 was by far and away the most successful of any trip to date. Not only did the London workshop reach full house (Dragon Hall staff even gave up their own office chairs so the last few elderly attendees would not have to sit on the floor) but the Dublin meeting was also especially pleasing. In Amsterdam and Frankfurt, small but interested groups of Exit Members came along. Consider- ing that Exit’s first London workshop in 2008 attracted a The London Exit Workshop attracted a full house of ~150 mere 10 participants, Dr Nitschke was very pleased that around 20 participants attended the meetings on the con- tinent. Already there are plans to build on these meetings in 2014 and 2015.

One particular highlight of this tour was the Dublin Workshop which was held at Liberty Hall (the trades hall) in the centre of the city. The credit for the organisation of this meeting goes to Tom Curran. Finally Exit had a venue that would not cancel at the last moment. Finally, Irish Exit Members could attend the workshop without being harassed by Church protestors at the door. The seventy odd folk who came along seemed especially grateful to have the opportunity to hear about their end of life 25 Year Old Exit Member Brad Jarrett who poked fun of the choices in an environment that was safe and supportive. ‘Care Not Killing’ Imposters

Surprisingly, it was the London workshop on this tour that attracted ‘protestors’. Representing one of the more extremist religious groups in the UK, ‘Care Not Kill- ing’, the individuals concerned donned anonymous black robes and masks. They did this not for dramatic effect, although that was certainly one outcome. Rather they needed to be anonymous because they were hired. These protestors were being paid by Care Not Killing to stand outside the Exit Meeting. This was only discovered when Exit Members tried to engage them in debate. The protestors knew nothing about VE. These facts were confirmed when the organiser was overheard telling her crew to as- semble in the next street after the protest to collect their Philip Nitschke on his way to Exit’s first Amsterdam Workshop payment and their complimentary lunches. Cont p. 7 where the Max Dog Nitrogen system was demonstrated

July - September 2013 Page 6 of 8 damned if i do - cont approached me to pen my story although the idea was not entirely new as Peter Corris and I had discussed it over the years but the opportunity to go forward had never been realised. Once the project of writing the book had started the process took a lot longer than expected thanks to Peter being knocked down as a pedestrian by a truck, breaking his elbow and leg and then my undergoing a shoulder reconstruction after I tripped badly while out jogging in mid 2012.

Of writing the book with Philip, Peter Corris says in his Philip with co-author Peter Corris in Darwin in December afterword: 2011 during the writing of ‘Damned If I Do’

‘This book represents my third attempt to collaborate with Philip Nitschke in the writing of his autobiography. europe tour 2013 cont Some years ago I’d successfully and enjoyably carried However, it was not only that the protestors were duplici- out a similar exercise with Fred Hollows ... I was keen tous in their presence outside the meeting, some elderly to do similar work. members were verbally abused as they tried to leave the building. So much for being caring! One member was so I conducted ten interviews with Philip between appalled that she took her complaint to Inspector Antony August 2010 and April 2012. Several of these were in Douglas of the Neighbourhood Policing Team, South Philip’s and Fiona’s tiny unit at Kings Cross, several in Camden Borough. my place at Newtown and, crucially, one in Darwin in December 2011. As a former lawyer, Jan has recommended that should the same happen again that members complain to the Philip easily met my criteria for a collaborative MET. On this occasion, CNK disregarded regulations as autobiography - an active life, devoted to a cause they apply to protests. Interestingly, the Care Not Killing I approve of, and pursued with a courage and group is the same organisation who had earlier lobbied - commitment I admire. unsuccessfully - the Home Secretary to bar Drs Nitschke & Stewart from entering the UK; an action which re- Philip says of Peter: sulted in a two-hour delay at Border Control at Gatwick Airport. Their actions of course failed as free speech - ‘Without Peter there would have been no book. But it thankfully - is lawful throughout Europe. was not only the pace of my work that kept me from a project like this. While being busy is one thing, what I really needed in a co-author was someone who Tom Curran & could take my spoken words and make them readable Philip Nitschke as they ap- on paper. Someone who I got on well with and liked peared in the and trusted and who was on my wave length. That Irish Independ- person was Peter Corris and I could not have hoped ent newspaper after the Dublin for a better colleague. I will be eternally grateful for his Workshop on efforts, goodwill and friendship. 29 June 2013

July - September 2013 Page 7 of 8 Peacefulpillstore.com Phone: 1- 360-347-1810

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