Dr Death 'exiled' across Tasman

Phillip Nitschke explained to the media yesterday why he has moved his euthanasia website to a New Zealand host. Picture / Dean Purcell

Philip Nitschke, the man known as Dr Death, sits at a small table, flanked by his new partners, Jack Jones of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand and Michael Bennett of Auckland-based website company PrimeHost.

It is a modest tea room and a small gathering: one TV camera, a few reporters and three Voluntary Euthanasia members to witness the day that Dr Nitschke, who has spent the past 20 years attempting to make it easier for elderly people to take their own lives, became a potential outlaw in his own country.

Under new Australian legislation, from yesterday it became illegal to use the phone, fax, email or internet to discuss practical issues surrounding voluntary euthanasia, which is what Dr Nitschke does much of the time. The fine: A$120,000 ($131,000) for individuals, A$500,000 for organisations.

Which is why the doctor is here and why his organisation's Exit International website is now the property of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand.

Given what has happened in Australia, "New Zealand is like a shining ray of liberalism over the Tasman. We are thrilled to be able to move at least the electronic side of our communication out of Australia".

Some would say Dr Nitschke is hiding out in New Zealand while in Australia angry 70- and 80-year-olds barrage senior government ministers via email with messages about how to end their own lives. Dr Nitschke merely sighs and changes the subject.

"Well, I suppose if I send an email to John Howard today telling him to hang himself I guess I'm not breaking any law here in New Zealand."

From now on he and Dr Fiona Stewart, his partner and co-author of his first book, Killing Me Softly: Voluntary Euthanasia and the Peaceful Pill, will commute across the Tasman from Darwin on a regular basis. If necessary they might move here permanently.

They see New Zealand as a bastion of free speech and civil liberties.

"I do feel that Exit [International] is being forced into exile," he says. "This is a very real development on the part of a government."

They expect a crowd at a public meeting at 2pm today in Grey Lynn during which they plan to show the film that tells how Exit members made their "peaceful pills".

According to the website, "The peaceful pill is a metaphor for achieving a peaceful, dignified death at a time of one's choosing." It adds that the preferred peaceful pill is the barbiturate Nembutal but other means of ending life have been explored.

A practical workshop today has drawn 55 bookings. "We had to turn people away," says Dr Nitschke.

Such workshops, open to VE members at $50 a head, are relaxed and practical affairs. Too many people could spoil attendees' opportunities to explore their end-of-life options.

Does Dr Nitschke find the constant preoccupation with death and how to kill yourself a depressing factor in his own life?

"I don't find it particularly depressing," he says. "Giving people access to choice can be a very uplifting experience. It's nice to walk down the street and have people come up to you and say, 'We really believe in what you're doing. Don't stop doing it'."

Dr Nitschke says he spent years "going around giving people penicillin for their tonsillitis" but that they didn't come up to him and say, "This is a good thing to do".

"This is an important social issue for this century, and I'm pleased to be involved in it."

Euthanasia rules in dispute
* New Australian legislation forbids using the phone, fax, email or internet to discuss practical issues surrounding voluntary euthanasia.
* Exit International's Dr Philip Nitschke runs workshops and websites detailing end-of-life information.
* From today his website will be available via the website of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand.
* The New Zealand organisation has more than 1200 members.
* There is a public meeting with Dr Nitschke at the Grey Lynn Community Centre at 2pm today.