archives - EUTHANASIA archives - EUTHANASIA
Plan for more
peaceful end-of-life. . .
www.piperpost.net - 22.6.08 The Australian
Government is considering new health guidelines designed to
allow 'unresponsive' loved ones to die if medical treatment
is considered futile and costly. Guidelines to
be considered by Health Minister Nicola Roxon include
consideration of withdrawing tube feeding from comatose or
brain-dead patients if such procedures are thought to be
'risky, intrusive, destructive, exhausting, painful or
repugnant,' and cost outweighs benefit or success. According to The
Courier-Mail newspaper: 'The guidelines only apply to
patients in post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) and a minimally
responsive state (MRS). Some PCU patients, who have had a
brain injury, drug overdose or stroke, appear to sleep and
wake normally but show no signs they are aware or do not
speak or respond. A minimally responsive state is where a
patient comes out of a coma and provides random responses
such as blinking or moving a finger.'
Terry Pratchett considers euthanasia. . . www.piperpost.net - 20.3.08
Author
Terry Pratchett, 59, who is suffering from a rare form of Alzheimer's
disease, says medically-assisted death is an option for people battling
the degenerative disease.
Over 45 million copies of Pratchett's books have been sold. Pratchett
is regarded as one of the most significant English-language
satirists of our time. He has won numerous literary awards, was named
an
Officer of the British Empire in 1998, and
has received four honorary doctorates from the Universities of Warwick,
Portsmouth, Bath, and Bristol.
He says, 'My view is that when there is clearly no 'me' left, whatever
else might be left, then painlessly disposing of the remnants would be
a sensible idea.' Pratchett recently donated $1 million to the
Alzheimer's Research Trust. He says he is determined to continue
writing. 'My plan is to do two more books. I believe that should be
possible and hope I will do more.'
COMMENT:
Assisted suicide is illegal in Pratchett's homeland, Britain, where he
currently resides, as it is in Australia. Too many weak politicians are
unwilling to oppose the Church and introduce humane legislation to
provide for death with dignity.
Australian move on end-of-life. . .www.piperpost.net - 26.3.08.
The Melbourne Herald-Sun
reports that the Victorian state government is initiating the
Respecting Patients' Choices program. This allows patients in the early
stages of chronic or terminal illness to make a formal written
statement declaring their desire to refuse life-saving treatment in
hospitals.
Officials deny the program is a form of euthanasia. It simply allows
people to have a say on decisions made at the end of their lives - to
choose not to have treatment to prolong their life rather than to have
active steps taken to hasten their death.
The Australian Medical Association has expressed
concern over the program, which is already operating in several
hospitals. Commented program manager Liz Strickland: 'We are not
talking about euthanasia here, we are talking about letting nature take
its course.'
COMMENT:
It is a step in the right direction but only a full legal framework for
voluntary euthanasia will satisfy the desire of the majority of Australians.
Scientific guide to suicide. . . www.piperpost.net -
6.4.08
A group of
scientists and psychologists have produced a scientific
guide to suicide. It will initially go on sale in the
Netherlands but will eventually be sold in other countries,
with versions planned in English, French and German.
One of the authors, psychiatrist Boudewijn Chabot,
commented: 'This book is for people who want to make their
own decisions about ending their lives.'
The book includes information on various means of committing
suicide and discusses the pros and cons of each mode -
including starvation, drugs and other means. It includes the
quickest and least painful methods.
Voluntary euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands and in a
limited number of other places but is illegal in Australia
where John Howard's Conservative government employed
Catholic MP Kevin Andrews to introduce Federal legislation
which overturned the ground-breaking voluntary euthanasia
regime in the Northern Territory.
Efforts are currently being made to overturn the Federal act
but such actions are being vigorously opposed by the Church
and other conservative forces.
COMMENT:
Never mind that majority Australian opinion is in favour
of voluntary euthanasia, most of our politicians are
evidently too scared of the Church to act democratically in
this matter. Thus people have to resort to all kinds of
activities such as getting access to illegal drugs to end
their lives at a time of their own choosing.
Large bequest to aid fight for euthanasia rights. . . www.piperpost.net
- 27.4.08.
The former Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Dr Clem
Jones, who died at the age of 89 last December, left a sum of $5
million to promote the legilisation of euthanasia in Australia.
In his will Jones wrote that he was inspired to make the bequest
because of his wife's battle with a painful illness before her death.
The Lord Mayor also left sizeable sums to other causes, e.g. $5 million
for stem cell research.
The Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, immediately ruled out any review
of the state's laws in relation to euthanasia. Premier Bligh said she
as a 'conservative view on euthanasia. And I know from my discussion
with medical practitioners in this field
that it could be a very slippery slope for parliaments to enter.'
COMMENT:
Many medical practitioners (but not all) oppose euthanasia. When they
act this way one is left with the suspicion that they might have a
vested interest in keeping miserable suffering people alive, generating
ongoing income in doing so. After all, once the patient is dead and
carried off to the funeral home that is the end of the flow of cash.
Euthanasia advocates active. . . www.piperpost.net
- 27.4.08.
In many countries around the world people
are working to urge governments to allow decent, well ordered
facilitiues for people to end their lives at a time of their own
choosing.
The forces of reaction, headed by religion and aided and abetted by
'right-to-life' organizations and some medical groups, continue to
oppose any move towards establishing a sane approach to death.
In Australia the fight continues with several groups active. The
Northern Territory government is currently considering the issue.
Australia's only voluntary euthanasia regime was set up in the
Territory but was overriden by the Howard conservative government with
the charge against the law led by Catholic MP Kevin Andrews.
The Territory is not a full state and as such is still subject to some
control from Canberra. Federal leader of the Greens, Bob Brown, has
been proposing that the Government should restore the power to
legislate on euthanasia to the Northern Territory and also to the
Australian Capital Territory.
The ACT had another stoush with the conservatives - on the question of
gay partners. Moves to legally recognize same-sex couples were quashed
by the Howard government.
COMMENT:
It is outrageous that those who do not wish to avail themselves of
euthanasia facilities continue to deny them to those who do. Because
Jehovah's Witnesses do not wish to have blood transfusions, do we deny
blood plasma to other people?
Euthanasia book gets clearance. . . www.piperpost.net - 18.5.08
The Peaceful Pill Handbook, by Dr Philip Nitschke, has been approved for sale in New Zealand but only after some sections were blacked out.
The book can now be sold to people aged over 18 years as it is classed 'objectionable' and must be sealed.
There was an immediate and expected outcry from the reactionary Right To Life organization.
Although about 15 pages are either wholly or partially blacked out the
book still provided much information, including how to obtain Nembutal
(common name for pentobarbital). It suggests several suicide
methods and compares them with one another.
Chief censor Bill Hastings, in releasing a statement, commented that it is 'a well-intentioned book that advocates law reform
and gives advice to enable the seriously ill and elderly to make
carefully considered and fully-informed decisions about their own life
and death.
'As repugnant as some members of the public may find the open
discussion of voluntary euthanasia, suicide methods and the law, the
New Zealand Bill of Rights preserves the author's right to freedom of
expression and
to impart the information and opinions contained in the book in its present revised form.'
COMMENT: High time Australia authorities acted in the same enlightened manner as their New Zealand counterparts.
Living Wills in Western Australia - starting point for sane reform. . . www.piperpost.net
- 8.6.08
The West Australian parliament has passed a law
broadly described as providing for a 'Living Will' - whereby people may
specify how they wish to be treated in the event of terminal illness.
The new law has been welcomed by right-to-die organizations and by Dr
Philip Nitschke, who campaigns actively for sanity in end-of-life
decisions. It has been opposed - as expected - by the usual
reactionary forces. The WA Director of the Australian Christian Lobby
commented: 'Most of the time the patient isn't aware what the end of
life looks like so they don't have the ability to make this kind of
decision.'
The WA Voluntary Euthanasia Society welcomes the move but says the law
doesn't go far enough. Society President Ranjan Ray has urged the State
Government to introduce new changes to the way end-of-life wishes are
handled by allowing doctor-assisted suicide with the use of lethal
injections or prescriptions.
Mr Ray said most West Australians supported voluntary euthanasia, with
recent polls showing WA was more open to the idea than any other State.
He said about 80 per cent of the nation backed doctor-assisted suicide.
COMMENT:
It is about time all our Governments responded to the majority view and
allowed for assisted suicide - providing humane end-of-life options for
its citizens - ignoring the bleating of the religiously
superstitious? Let them die in pain if they wish but leave the
rest of us to end our lives with some dignity and in relative peace.
Private
Member's Bill on Euthanasia. . . www.piperpost.net - 5.7.08
The Australian Federal Parliament will again see
the subject of euthanasia debated when sittings resume. Parliament is
currently in its winter recess. Greens leader, Bob Brown, will
introduce a private member's bill and leaders of the major parties have
given permission for a 'conscience vote' to be held.
Any positive decision will not directly allow for euthanasia. This
remains a state issue. Debate will centre of permitting the territorial
governments, that of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital
Territory, to legislate if they desire to do so. The Northern Territory
originally instituted a regime of voluntary euthanasia but the
Conservative Federal Government overturned the NT law. Catholic
parliamentarian Kevin Andrews led the charge against the NT law.
Even if the Federal parliament moves to revoke its previous action
there is considerable doubt whether the Northern Territory will move to
restore its voluntary euthanasia legislation
Italian
court heeds appeal to allow death. . . www.piperpost.net - 12.7.08
For
16 years Eluana Englaro has been in a vegetative state, her body being
kept alive only by a feeding tube. Englaro was involved in a horrendous
car accident when only 20 years of age. He father had sought for 10
years to have the feeding tube removed but only now has an appeals
court decided in favour of this action.
The court states that it is believed the vegetative state is
irreversible and that the removal of the girl's life-support would
conform to her own will. Evidence was given that shortly before
her own accident Eluana had visited a friend who was in a similar
condition in hospital and she had then expressed the view that she
would refuse treatment under the circumstances.
NZ GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSING TRUTH?
Dr Philip Nitschke, the campaigner for voluntary euthanasia, has been
threatened with a huge fine if he tries to import into New Zealand a
movie in which an elderly woman shows people how to use an oven bag to
end their lives. The film, Doing It
With Betty,
if screened could see Dr Nitschke fined up to $A7900. The film is not
yet classified in New Zealand. It has been banned by the Australian
authorities where the so-called 'classification' system avoids
difficulties by simply failing to classify a movie the censors don't
like. www.piperpost.net - 12.7.08
Another nursing home shocker. www.piperpost.net
- 23.08.08
Once again Australian nursing homes are in bad
odour - this time five institutions in Queensland. Federal
Government funding may be withdrawn from these homes - located in
Albany Creek, Deception Bay, Maryborough, Cherbourg and Cardwell.
Brisbanetimes.com.au
(Fairfax Digital) says: 'The complaints made against these centres are
widespread and include poor hygiene, poor treatment of wounds, poor
food, problems in dealing with incontinence, staffing issues not being
addressed, failure to address the cause of falls and in some centres
cases where residents have been choking from poor food provided to
them.'
COMMENT:
Many of us (and I can speak on this issue because at age 76 I am fast
approaching the end of my life) do not want to end our days in nursing
homes. We should instead be able to end our days in a dignified
way - if that is our choice - with legally sanctioned assisted
suicide. The lily-livered ninnies among out politicians who
will not face the need for legislated voluntary euthanasia are acting
in an inhuman manner although they think otherwise. Maybe these
contemplate with pleasure a spell as half-doped mendicants reduced to a
pathetic state of baby-like dependence slobbering away in a nursing
home bed. I do not!
Currently
this issue has been raised again in Victoria. Hopefully politicians
there will find the courage to pass the necessary legislation.
Other states should surely follow. And, from a purely practical point
of view, a few less of us oldies hanging around beyond our time means a
saving of - we are told - costs of between $150,000 and $200,000 per
bed.
Government euthanasia cop-out highlighted by two cases . www.piperpost.net - 21.09.08.
Two
current Australian news stories have highlighted the abject failure of
our Governments, both State and Federal, to provide legalized
facilities for assisted suicide.
While our elected representatives continue to kowtow to the Church,
people continue to suffer unnecessarily for lack of a way to end their
sufferings.
On TV this month we saw a lovely young woman, Angelique Flowers, 31,
tell of her search on the Internet for a way out of her sufferings.
Angelique was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at age 15. One month
before her 31st birthday she was told she had an aggressive form of
bowel cancer. She now faced a slow and painful death. She was appealing
to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and parliamentarians to act to make
it legal to obtain relief, especially from the drug Nembutal, a banned
import. [A Google search will bring up the full details of this story.]
Meanwhile Nembutal became the centre of a controversial legal case in
which the drug was secretly imported into Australia by 75-year-old
Caren Jenning and used to end the life of Alzheimer's sufferer Graeme
Wylie. Ms Jenning and another woman, Shirley Justins, were due to
appear in court in October to be sentenced after being found guilty of
manslaughter.
COMMENT:
Angelique might save her breath. Appealing to Mr Rudd will do not good;
he's in thrall to the Church boots and all. Politicians continue to
take more notice of the Church and sundry other control freaks, e.g.
Margaret Tighe's so-called 'Right to Life' organization, rather than
the Australian public, which has shown over and over in surveys that it
favours voluntary euthanasia.
Assisted suicide again debated in Britain . . . www.piperpost.net - 12.10.08.
A
British woman, suffering from multiple sclerosis, has won the right to
force England's prosecutors to reveal when they will charge someone
with participating in an assisted suicide.
There
have been a number of cases where relatives have taken people to the
Continent to die peacefully. In some jurisdictions voluntary euthanasia
is legal. In no case has anyone been charged although possible legal
action hangs over their heads. Debbie Purdy plans travelling to
Switzerland if her condition worsens where the Dignitas euthanasia
facility would be used. She is concerned that her husband might be
charged when he returns to Britain. The law as it stands specifies a
term of 14 years for assisting in a suicide.
When Mrs Purdy approached the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken
Macdonald, for advice he refused to disclose his practice, after which
she filed her lawsuit.
Alison Davis of No Less Human, part of the Society for the Protection
of Unborn Children, said assisted suicide and euthanasia are not
positive solutions for the disabled. This group is intervening in the
case. Pro-life advocates say patients should be provided with better
pain relief, palliative care and psychological referrals instead of
promoting their death via assisted suicide or euthanasia.
COMMENT:
How dare so-called 'pro-life' advocates dictate to the rest of us!
Isn't it high time that those who demand toleration for their
particular beliefs (mostly religious) extend the same tolerance to the
rest of us. Suffer pain and despair in old age if you wish but leave
the rest of us alone to choose the wiser course - to end it with
dignity.
Battle for end-of-life sanity continues . . . www.piperpost.net - 26.10.08.
In
many countries the fight for freedom in end-of-life decisions rages. Dr
Philip Nitschke has been in the United Kingdom recently where he
conducted seminars for those who wished to know more about how they
might provide for a peaceful end.
As
usual the critics rose up in condemnation. Bournemouth Council refused
to allow him to speak to its ageing population in one of its venues.
But during a workshop in central London, Dr Nitschke gave details of
the places people could obtain a certain drug. It tasted bitter, he
said, but most did not finish the champagne or whisky they usually
chose to wash it down with before they passed away peacefully.
In an act of appalling censorship Dr Nitschke's book on voluntary euthanasia, The Peaceful Pill,
was banned in Australia by the church-controlled Federal government of
the day. The ban is still in place in spite of the change of
government. An online version was launched by Dr Nitschke during the
campaigner's visit to Britain.
Euthanasia law sanity in Washington . . . www.piperpost.net - 09.11.08.
While
Californians suffer a setback from the Christian activists the state of
Washington has seen a win for commonsense. Initiative 1000 was approved
by about 58 percent of voters. The initiative allows for terminally-ill
people, who have been diagnosed as having six months or less to live,
to be prescribed life-ending medication, self-administered.
The law would also remove the threat of prosecution to people who may
wish to help a terminally ill person end their life. This is the
stumbling-block raised by recalcitrant governments who are able
unwilling or incapable of instituting sensible end-of-life assisted
suicide procedures.
If the Washington measure passes into law it will mean there are now
two American states and several countries - the Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg and Switzerland - with right-to-die legislation in place.
The issue is also being debated currently in France, Germany. Australia
and the United Kingdom.
COMMENT:
The time has surely come when any decent society, including our own,
should provide a humane regime for assisted suicide. The only thing
standing in the way of such an outcome, I believe, is the evil
influence of religion, in other words, superstition for that is all
religion is.
Teenage girl wins right to die . . . www.piperpost.net - 16.11.08.
Hannah,
an English girl, aged 13, who has a long history of illness, suffering
a hole in the heart, was facing a transplant operation she did not
want. The Hereford County Hospital wanted to force the operation on the
unwilling girl, threatening her parents with legal action to remove
Hannah from their care.
Hannah
previously suffered from leukemia and her heart has been weakened by
drugs she was required to take from the age of five.
Hannah
had been offered a transplant in July 2007 but said she did not want to
go through with it after taking advice from doctors, As a result of the
hospital's actions Hannah, with the full support of her parents, took
the matter to court where she won the right to decide for herself.
She said the operation might not work, and if it did work, it would be
followed by constant medication. She said she wanted to stop treatment
and spend the rest of her life at home and the authorities subsequently
withdrew its legal action.
Commented Hannah's father, Andrew Jones: 'The threat that somebody
could come and forcibly remove your daughter from you against her
wishes, against our wishes, was quite upsetting really.'
Mr Jones added: 'We didn't get too involved in (Hannah's) decision.
Hannah made that decision consciously on her own, a bit like a grown
up, even though she was only 12 at the time and she has maintained that
decision. How she coped with it, what her mind was thinking at the
time, I've got great admiration for her in that and, as I said, we have
to support her and her decision.'
COMMENT; And we have immense admiration for you, too, Hannah.
Montana third state with assisted suicide . . . www.piperpost.net - 14.12.08.
A
judge in Montana has ruled that assisted suicides are legal in the
state. A man with terminal cancer has sued the state with four
physicians who treat terminally-ill patients and a non-profit patients'
rights group.
Judge
Dorothy McCarter ruled that 'the Montana constitutional rights of
individual privacy and human dignity, taken together, encompass the
right of a competent terminally (ill) patient to die with dignity.''
The ruling added: 'Those patients had the right to obtain
self-administered medications to hasten death if they find their
suffering to be unbearable, and that physicians can prescribe such
medication without fear of prosecution. The patient's right to die with
dignity includes protection of the patient's physician from liability
under the state's homicide statutes.'
State authorities are considering an appeal. The plaintiff, Robert
Baxter, said he was comforted by McCarter's ruling. 'I am glad to know
that the court respects my choice to die with dignity if my situation
becomes intolerable,' the 75-year-old retired truck driver said in a
statement.
Kathryn Tucker, the legal director of patients' right group Compassion
& Choices who helped argue the case, said the court found 'it is
the individual patients who should be entitled to make these critical
decisions for themselves and their families, and not the government.'
COMMENT:
Little by little progress is being made on this issue and sanity
beginning to enter into the end-of-life situation. It is high time for
Australia to move further to provide legal facilities for assisted
suicide.
Italian PM refuses woman's peaceful death . . .
www.piperpost.net - 08.02.09.
Proving that the Roman Catholic Church is not yet a spent force in Italy the country's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is defying a humane court order to switch off the life-support of Eluana Englaro.
Ms
Englaro, now aged 38, was involved in a traffic accident 18 years ago
and has been in a coma ever since. Her father has been battling
authorities who have prevented doctors switching off her life support.
However, last September a court ruled that doctors could stop treating
her.
Now the Prime Minister has stepped into the situation and issued an emergency decree overturning the court order. President Giorgio Napolitano has so far refused to sign the decree.
Meanwhile the Pope and other Church officials have issued dire warnings
claiming euthanasia is 'murder'. The Pope says people should just
suffer pain. The head of the small Italy of Values party, Antonio Di
Pietro, criticized
those who he said wanted to resolve the case 'only to ingratiate the
Church hierarchy,' and others on the Left of politics have condemned
Bertusconi's move.
[COMMENT:
Here we go again! Absurd notions of life and death informing action
rather that plain commonsense. Of course it is evident the Catholic
Church gets itself worked up into such a lather on issues like abortion
and euthanasia so as to assuage its collective conscience. The Church
has a horrific history of centuries of abuse, torture and murder for which to try
to make amends.]
ITALIAN WOMAN DIES. Eluana
Englaro, the woman at the centre of a row in Italy over euthanasia, has
died. Comatose for the past 18 years, following a traffic accident, the
woman's life-support was switched off following a court order. She had
been moved from a Catholic hospice to a non-church site. Meanwhile, the
Italian prime minister had intervened and was trying to
stop the doctors acting on the court order. www.piperpost.net - 15.02.09.
Voluntary euthanasia strongly supported . . .
www.piperpost.net - 15.02.09.
The latest Intelligence2 debate sponsored by The Sydney Morning Herald
dealt with the question: 'We should legalize euthanasia.' Before the
debate began the audience registered 71 percent in the affirmative and
15 percent negative. After the debate the affirmative vote rose to 75
percent, with 20 percent negative.
These
figures reflect the results of various polls over a long period of time,
polls that our Governments, evidently in terror of alienating the Christian vote,
conveniently ignore.
Speaking at the debate and writing later in the Herald Peter
Baume, former Liberal senator and Emeritus Professor of Community
Medicine at the University of NSW, commented: 'We do not let dogs and
horses suffer as we allow humans to suffer.'
Professor Baume commented on the voluntary euthanasia law formerly
operating in the Northern Territory. In a day of shame for Australian
democracy John Howard and his Catholic minister, Kevin Andrews,
convinced Parliament to override it.
'The law on the rights of the terminally ill that existed in the
Northern Territory worked well,' wrote Professor Baume. 'The law gave
people the right to die, by making voluntary euthanasia legal under
strictly limited circumstances. The person had to have an illness that
was severe and life-threatening, had to consent, and had to be free of
treatable depression.'
[COMMENT:
Doubtless many - not all, of course - of our Christian parliamentarians
prefer we follow the path recently suggested by the Pope of Rome -
enjoy our pain!]
Final Exit members arrested . . .
www.piperpost.net - 01.03.09.
The
Establishment continues to attack any who would try to alleviate human
misery at the end of life. The latest attack involved the arrest of
members of a right-to-die group in the USA, the Final Exit Network.
Last
week the FBI arrested four members of what they are pleased to term, in
pejorative terms, 'a suicide ring'. The group is accused of being
involved in helping a man suffering extremely painful cancer of the
throat to end his life.
John Celmer, 58, died after inhaling helium. Betty Celmer, the man's
mother, said her son had suffered for years from cancer of the throat
and mouth and that he had undergone extensive surgery with several more
rounds to go.
Thomas E Goodin (Final Exit's President), Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81,
of Baltimore, Nicholas Alec Sheridan (a regional coordinator) and a
member, Claire Blehr, are charged with assisted suicide, tampering with
evidence and 'a violation of Georgia's anti-racketeering act.'
The group's vice president said it supports those with irreversible
illnesses who choose to end their lives, but its volunteers don't
actively participate in the life-ending procedures.The group started in
2004 and has 3,000 dues-paying members.
Since the arrests authorities have signalled an all-out attack on the group, with search warrants being issued for 14 sites.
[COMMENT:
The Establishment, spurred on by the forces of religion, will do all
they can to hinder those who seek a peaceful end to their sufferings.
What a peculiar and perverted attitude these people have to the
processes of life and death.]
Couple end life in Switzerland . . .
www.piperpost.net - 15.03.09.
Peter and Penelope Duff, a wealthy British couple, have ended their
lives in the Dignitas Clinic in Zurich. Mr Duff, 80, a patron of
the Bath Festival, was suffering from colon and liver cancer and his
70-year-old wife had been suffering from another rare form of the
disease, Gist (gastrointestinal stromal tumour) since 1992.
Dignitas
was founded in 1998 by Swiss lawyer Ludwig Minelli, who runs it as a
non-profit organization. Around 100 Britons are said to have been
helped to die at the facility.
Britain, like Australia and other countries, continues to drag its feet
on allowing for a dignified end to life. Although suicide is no longer
a crime in England and Wales, aiding and abetting suicide is still a
criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Thus people
like the Duffs must travel to Switzerland if they wish to end their
sufferings as masters of their own destiny.
The Prince of Wales sent a message of condolence to relatives after their death was announced.
[COMMENT:
Come on you Australian politicians - get moving on this important
issue. Reverse what was done by John Howard when he stomped on the
Northern Territory legislation, what a dark day that was for Australia.
After that I determined I would never vote for the conservatives again.]