As Philip Nitschke states within his book, Killing Me Softly, “these people are not sick. They simply believe they have reached a stage in life when they are ready to die.” These stakeholders argue that they should have the right to make a decision regarding their own life, which in fact, is an acceptable argument as the act of suicide is legal within Australia. However, if they require assistance with their death, those who are involved are threatened with violation Australian legislation. As stated under the Commonwealth Crime Act (1974), assisting a person with suicide is illegal; hence, if anyone had tried to assist a person with suicide, they would suffer serious consequences themselves. Even if this legislation was abolished, and Euthanasia laws introduced, the moral standards of society would most definitely be affected by this new “right to die”.
Euthanasia is an issue so interwoven within human rights and ethics that it cannot be ignored and must be addressed with Australian society. As the Euthanasia debate consists of many different arguments and stakeholders, one issue cannot be addressed and evaluated without consulting the “bigger picture”. Evidently, if Euthanasia became legal throughout Australia, there would be many implications that would follow. Firstly, religious parties would not agree with the decision that has been made, and would possibly rally and protest against those hospitals and health care centres that acted upon euthanasia