Byron Shire Echo July 6, Articles In support of voluntary euthanasiaPatrizia ReimerWorking to restore Kohinur HallLandcare riparian work along the creek. Not only does the team work on a worthwhile project but members get the kind of skills which can be used for finding work in the construction industry. They do a Workcover accredited occupational health and safety course and learn how to use power tools, select and order materials and basic carpentry skills. Paul Richardson encourRay Keen on rocks and barrow, Mark Gooley, site supervisor for ages community groups to Tursa employment and training. contact himon if Since February unemployed their work skills and work they would like a work for the locals have been lending their ethic. This construction dole team to help out. muscle and enthusiasm to a based project gives you a lot six-month restoration project of skills that can be readily iPods Accessories at the Kohinur Hall at Main translated into jobs. Surge Protectors The Kohinur project Arm and getting some job JBL Creatures skills in the process. The started in February and in group of eight to ten people that time, working only two MBoxes Midi Kbds are part of a work for the dole days a week, the team has in- FW Drives Burners program being run by Tursa. stalled concrete paths around The federally funded govern- the perimeter, put in a new ment program is adminis- disabled access and made tered by the Department of improvements to the rear veEmployment and Workplace randah. Between now and Relations and aims to give August when the job finishes unemployed people work ex- they will build a roofed party LIGHTFORCE COMPUTERS barbecue and carry out some mf -6 sat -2 perience and confidence. Paul Richardson, Tursas community work coordinator, has managed the team Mullumbimby which he said has shown a lot of interest in the project. The guys have done a magnificent job and its a Est. great spot for them to work, the attendance rate has been outstanding for one of these AdvDipDPSyd DipDTSyd types of projects, he said. This kind of work gives peoDental Prosthetist ple a reason to be someServices Provided where, it helps people with Member New fullpartial dentures ALL SERVICES ARE Precision cast alloy dentures PROVIDED DIRECT TO Relining your existing and disconnect houses beTHE PUBLIC WITH NO REFERRAL REQUIRED. cause they know they woulddentures same day nt get out alive. But even Emergency repairs Stuart Street, though they dont pay for Seniors card Mullumbimby utilities, favelas also dont re pension discounts Ph ceive many basic government services, and the unsanitary conditions are awful, Ill never forget the smell. I still go and visit my friends there though, but it really bugs me that I couldnt CATALOGUE IN THIS WEEKS ECHO tell many of my friends and students that I lived there, or even that I go and visit be cause of the middle class atti2 for tude. People whove never set foot in a favela go psycho at the mention of them. Favelas are full of drug dealers and ignorant people stealing elecArlec 4 Outlet tricity, water and cable TV, Powerboard they say. Yet their maids live with overload there. Bus drivers. Street Includes cut off reset cleaners. Taxi drivers. Doorbutton. 1m lead. men to their apartment or office. The middle class Brazilians answer to the problem Heller of favelas is to move to ever Bathroom James Hardware more secure American style Essential Mitre , Stuart Street, gated communities, the Exhaust Fan Mullumbimby same cut yourself off from 4 x W heat MITRE lamps. Highly the poor and let them all kill Jonson Street, efficient exhaust each other kind of attitude fan. W light. Byron Bay that I believe was originally the idea of Walt Disney.It could be said that in this area we have important meeting fatigue, as opposed to the widely known compassion fatigue where so many charities rely on financial support that the generous public closes its purse in exasperation. Here it seems every week there must be at least one significant event aimed at bringing awareness and garnering support for a worthy cause. So numerous are these gatherings, organisers are lucky to get significant numbers of people as demand for their attendance is spread over a large field of meetings refugee support groups, Amnesty International, Byron loves Bali. The list is endless. So when Bryan Milner launched the Northern Rivers branch of the
voluntary euthanasia
Society last week and people attended, despite it being on a Monday at am when many are at work, it can be safely assumed that the issue is a hot one supported by many. Nevertheless he would have liked to have seen more people. I was quite pleased, the only thing I think that puzzles me a bit is given that so many people say theyre in favour of voluntary euthanasia, I expected to see more people, he said. According to surveys per cent of the population supports the legalisation of voluntary assisted euthanasia
. Despite this governmentsFavelas from previous pagecontinue to deny the sick and suffering this choice, making it a criminal offence to assist in the humane death of anyone unable to take their own life. Suicide is legal but voluntary assisted euthanasia is not. Mr Milner was prompted to form a local VES chapter after watching his wifes daughter suffer the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis for years and following his own cancer diagnosis, which is now in remission. He felt helpless and wanted to form a pressure group to have legislation changed so that people suffering and in chronic pain from terminal disease could choose to end their life with dignity. The inaugural meeting was held at Ballina on Monday June and former prominent politicians Kep Enderby and Marshall Perron provided a comprehensive briefing on past and current aspects of the voluntary euthanasia movement in Australia and overseas. Marshall Perron was the former Chief Minister for the Northern Territory and presided over the government which introduced the first legislation in the world legalising voluntary assisted euthanasia in . It was subsequently overturned by the federal government in but in that short time the Northern Territory and its Minister received worldwide media attention for this groundbreaking legislation. At the launch last Monday one. They cut off his head, set fire to his body and walked around the favela displaying his head. This was at about 7pm when the streets are full of people, including a lot of kids. Later they played football with the head. We didnt see this, thank god, because it was about that time that Nei was telling me what had happened. I started trying to find another place to live the next day but it proved very difficult. Another two months went by and still nothing. Then the bandits opened up a bar directly across the street from me. They played their fucking music on four speakers bigger than me until four am, every day. I didnt sleep for a month. I have never been so stressed in my life. People who have to endure bush doofs, imagine it happening every night. On top of that one of the new bandits took a liking to me and would always try to stop me as I passed and talk to me. I was more worried about what he might do to Nei than me, so we had to get out. Thankfully we did. Whatweek Mr Perron provided a detailed breakdown of suicides in this country, demonstrating the tragic measures terminally ill people resort to in order to control their manner of dying. He pointed out that if voluntary euthanasia was a legal option, the number of suicides would be significantly reduced. Marshall Perron has tried for some considerable time and he just cannot see a rational reason for making people suffer, thats how I see it, said Mr Milner. Speakers from the floor consistently asked why when opinion polls show over per cent of the community is in favour of VE, the major political parties have a closed mind on the subject. The meeting unanimously passed motions to establish the Northern Rivers branch of VES NSW, calling on the federal government to institute a referendum on VE as a prelude to legalisation and urging the NSW government to introduce legislation recognising living wills. The next meeting will be at the RSL Sports Club Goonellabah at am on Monday September and promises to be a rip snorter, as Mr Milner put it, with prominent right to die advocate Dr Philip Nitschke as guest speaker. For further details or to join the VES and help push for legislative reform, contact convener Bryan Milner on . had started as a interesting social experiment became a nightmare. At the beginning though, a lot of the bandits were very decent to us, we got polite nods and greetings from them. Unfortunately, those nice ones were killed by police and the new guys who came in were of a different ilk but not a different group. In fact the owner of the favela, the head bandit of the group for the favela, was a year old kid who was very polite. If he lives a few more years hell be promoted to managing a whole area of favelas.in StockDENTURECLINIC DAVID SMITHit because the investigating police, the Civil Police, are just as corrupt and have no desire to disrupt the status quo. This was running around my head when Nei told me what happened. I couldnt bear it, he came within a whisker of being killed by police that day and it would have been my fault because I went to live there he never liked it there but he came to see me.The thought nearly broke my brain. We found out later that six bandits had been killed that day, and also the other bandits had discovered who was the informer there is always5INEW TYRES, BATTERIES REPAIRSBillinudgel Tyre ServiceMogo Place. Ph Established cant help think every day about the millions of people in Brazil who havent the option to leave when its no longer interesting and different.There are some people in the favelas who dont want to leave even though they have the money, partly because of the community atmosphere and belonging, and probably mostly because its so cheap. In favelas no one pays for water rates or electricity, the companies dont have the guts to go in
