One of the country's leading constitutional lawyers has blasted the proposal to let the ACT Legislative Assembly decide on whether to allow assisted dying in the territory.
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Professor Greg Craven said the ACT was a micro-jurisdiction, and the danger with micro-jurisdictions was that their law-makers liked to draw attention to themselves, and that could lead to bad law.
"It's the challenge you see when you get small legislatures," he said. "It doesn't make for good policy. There aren't the internal controls which there are in a state like Victoria which has five or six million people."
He said the population of the ACT was similar in size to that of Blacktown in Sydney. The idea of Blacktown legislating on the rules for ending a life would not be acceptable, he felt.
Similarly for the ACT. He wondered if the desire to legislate on "assisted dying" was about self-importance. "The question is: 'How do you look important?' You can get very extreme results."
He thought that legislatures of small entities were tempted to go for extreme measures in order to make waves. He had noticed the same behaviour in other parts of the world such as Canada.
"Euthanasia is one of those issues which progressive thinkers tend to concentrate their energy on.
"If a significant part of your motive is to get attention, you will always be inclined to go further than normal."
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Professor Craven is acknowledged as one of the country's authorities on constitutions. He was Professor of Law, and Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University.
At the moment, federal law forbids the ACT from legislating on assisted dying. Victoria has already made it lawful for people who have a terminal illness, with death no more than six months away, to seek help to end their lives early.
The Canberra Times is campaigning for the ACT to have the same power to legislate on the matter.
Some argue that whatever you think of assisted dying, the ACT should still have the right to decide the matter for ACT people. Professor Craven denied that the two questions were separate.
The lawyer thought that trying to separate the two was like trying to separate the coconut from a lamington.
He is firmly opposed to assisted dying (or euthanasia as he prefers to call it). He thinks that whatever the initial safeguards, a door to laxer rules would be opened.
He fears that vulnerable old people might be pressured into saying that their lives should end. "Is this really the time for this debate?" he asked.
Life was sacred. The concentration should be put on the care of people at the end of their lives rather than on helping those lives end earlier.
The president of Dying with Dignity ACT didn't accept Professor Craven's argument.
"[Professor] Craven asserts without evidence that palliative care is the answer to the endurance and suffering experienced when dying. It is clear from poll after poll taken by many outlets that 80 per cent of people do not agree with him," Jeanne Arthur said.
She accused him of "fear mongering".
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
