Minister looks into Dr Death's NZ plan

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe is getting a briefing from officials on controversial Australian euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke's plan to shift to New Zealand.

Known as "Doctor Death", Dr Nitschke plans to shift his operations to a base at New Zealand's Voluntary Euthanasia Society in Auckland.

He also plans to hold workshops in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported.

A spokesman for Mr Cunliffe said yesterday that he was expecting to get a briefing from officials some time today on the situation. The briefing was sought after media inquiries.

"He will need to form a view after looking at that - or even whether it's appropriate for him to form a view on it."

The campaigner is planning to move his organisation to New Zealand before some of his activities are outlawed in Australia. He would fly to New Zealand on December 31 to relocate the origin of his Exit International's website at the offices of Auckland's right-to-die group. The activist is making the move before the January 6 enactment of an Australian law that bans promoting euthanasia by telephone or internet.

Labour Department deputy-secretary for workforce Mary Anne Thompson said that in general Australian citizens did not need a permit to visit, live or work in New Zealand. But Australian citizens still needed to meet entry requirements to come to New Zealand.

People could be denied entry if they had been sentenced to imprisonment, involved in criminal activity or were likely to commit or assist others to commit a crime, had been removed or deported from other countries, or been involved with criminal or terrorist organisations. The department could not speculate on individual cases and whether they met entry criteria.

Last December, Dr Nitschke visited Auckland to start recruiting for voluntary euthanasia advocates to learn how to make his life-ending pill.

He was a strong supporter of New Plymouth woman Lesley Martin, who was released last December from prison halfway through a jail term for trying to murder her ill mother.