wfn.org | EUTHANASIA DECISION

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

March 25, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, UK

ACC 1177

Archbishop 'deeply thankful' for Senate's euthanasia decision

The decision by the Senate, the upper House of the Australian
Parliament, to discard the Northern Territory's euthanasia legislation
was today welcomed by church leaders.  The Senate vote followed a vote
in the House of Representatives some weeks earlier, which also supported
the Private Member's Bill designed to overturn the Northern Territory
euthanasis legislation.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev Harry Goodhew, said that
he was deeply pleased with the outcome.

"While we feel a deep sense of compassion for those who are suffering
and longing for release from pain, yet we must recognise that the Senate
vote shows that there is still a sense of reverence for life in our
community," he said.

"The taking of a person's life is contrary to God's law and the values
of a civilised society and I am deeply thankful that the Senate agrees. 
To condone the deliberate killing of the most vulnerable in society is
to risk the status of all human life in our community, and the primary
intent of any law should be to sustain and enhance life, not to destroy
it.

"Looking ahead, it is time for Australia to take seriously the
requirement for palliative care, especially in the Northern Territory. 
There are no doctors with formal palliative care qualifications
practicing in this field in the NT.  This is an area which should
receive substantial government and local support."

Archbishop Goodhew also commented on the deep resistance to the
euthanasia legislation in the Aboriginal communities in the Northern
Territory.  "The members of Parliament have shown that they have heard
and responded to the fears and opposition of the indigenous people to
this legislation," he said.

A special Senate Select Committee had gathered submissions from the
Northern Territory and it is believed that every Aboriginal community
had expressed their opposition in submissions to the Committee.

The Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane is expected to sign
the Bill into law immediately.

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