In 2005, the Australian Government passed legislation that made it illegal to use a carriage service (telephone, fax, email, Internet) to discuss VE and end of life issues.
To be exact, the Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences Act) 2005 makes it a crime to “use a carriage service [telephone, fax, email, Internet – not mail service]: to access material; cause material to be transmitted to the person; transmit material; make material available; publish or otherwise distribute material; AND the material directly or indirectly counsels or incites committing or attempting to commit suicide; AND the person intends to use the material to counsel or incite, committing or attempting to commit suicide; or intends that the material be used by another person to counsel or incite committing or attempting to commit suicide”.
The upshot of this new Censorship Law - the likes of which have never been seen before in Australia - is that people of all nationalities are now barred from finding out information about Exit International, and Exit's workshop and information programs on an Internet site like this.
Note - at the current time it is still legal in Australia to have face -to-face discussions about these issues, and books have not yet been banned (although this may change at any time).
The Australian Government says that it is concerned about teenage suicide chat rooms. The Australian Government believes that by censoring the content on
Exit International's website it is going to address the youth suicide problem.
While Exit does not deny that some young people take their lives, and that some young people do this because they are suffering from a mental illness (including depression), we do not accept that the Australian youth suicide rate (which continues to fall) is justification for banning Exit members and other elderly, rational or ill adults from accessing information about their end of life options.
And besides, the vast majority of teenage suicide websites are hosted outside of Australia by people or groups of other nationalities. The Criminal Code Amendment does NOTHING to prevent young Australians from accessing this type of information on the Internet. The Criminal Code Amendment does EVERYTHING to tell rational adults what they can and cannot read, and what is and is not good for them.
Shame John Howard and your Liberal Coalition Government! Shame Kim Beazley and your Australian Labor Party Opposition! (In the Parliamentary vote on this Bill, only the Greens and the Australian Democrats voted against this insidious piece of censorship.)
Contact John Howard here
Contact Kim Beazley here
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