Chapter 1 - Introduction
Purpose of the Bill
1.1
On 12 March 2008, the Senate referred the Rights of the Terminally Ill
(Euthanasia Laws Repeal) Bill 2008 (Bill) to the Senate Standing Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs for inquiry and report by 1 May 2008. On 18 March 2008, the Senate agreed to extend the reporting date to 23 June 2008.
1.2
The Bill, a private senator's bill introduced by Senator Bob Brown,
proposes to repeal the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 (Cth) and thereby allow
the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island to
make legislation permitting voluntary euthanasia. It also proposes to revive
the Northern Territory Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995.
Conduct of the inquiry
1.3
The committee advertised the inquiry in The Australian newspaper
on 26 March 2008. Details of the inquiry, the Bill and associated
documents were placed on the committee's website. The committee also wrote to over
85 organisations and individuals inviting submissions by 9 April 2008.
1.4
The committee received over 1800 submissions. These are listed at
Appendix 1. A list of submissions was placed on the committee's website.
However, not all submissions were published on the committee's website. This
was due to the large number of submissions received, and the resources required
to publish those submissions. The majority of submissions received merely
expressed a short statement in favour of, or opposing, the Bill. While some
submitters requested confidentiality, all public submissions are available to
the general public and can be provided upon request made to the committee
secretariat.
1.5
The committee held public hearings in Darwin on 14 April 2008 and in Sydney on 16 April 2008. A list of witnesses who appeared at the hearings is at
Appendix 2 and copies of the Hansard transcript are available through the
Internet at https://www.aph.gov.au/hansard
Acknowledgement
1.6
The committee thanks those organisations and individuals who made
submissions and gave evidence at the public hearing.
Scope of the report
1.7
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the Bill and its background. The next
two chapters contain a summary of the main arguments for and against the Bill
as raised during the committee's inquiry: Chapter 3 considers legal and
constitutional policy issues and Chapter 4 canvasses the key arguments for and
against legalising voluntary euthanasia. Chapter 5 contains a summary of the
views of committee members, along with the Chair's findings and
recommendations. Detailed comments provided by various members of the
committee, and participating Senators, follow these chapters.
Note on references
1.8
References in this report are to individual submissions as received by
the committee, not to a bound volume. References to Committee Hansard are to
the proof Hansard: page numbers may vary between the proof and the official
Hansard.
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