Politics Central

One thousand doctors have signed a letter saying they "want no part in assisted suicide".
They have urged politicians and policy-makers to let them focus on saving lives and care for the dying, rather than taking lives, which they deemed unethical - whether legal or not.
The letter comes as Parliament is due to start the second reading debate on Act MP David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill on Wednesday.
The doctors said they were "committed to the concept of death with dignity and comfort", including effective pain relief and excellence in palliative care. And they uphold the right of patients to decline treatment.





Pacific Island people opposing the End of Life Bill at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But the 1000-strong group said it believed "physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are unethical, even if they were made legal".
"We believe that crossing the line to intentionally assist a person to die would fundamentally weaken the doctor-patient relationship which is based on trust and respect," the letter reads.
"We are especially concerned with protecting vulnerable people who can feel they have become a burden to others, and we are committed to supporting those who find their own life situations a heavy burden."
Finishing, they said: "Doctors are not necessary in the regulation or practice of assisted suicide. They are included only to provide a cloak of medical legitimacy.


1000 doctors put their weight behind full-page advertisement opposing Act leader's bill.
"Leave doctors to focus on saving lives and providing real care to the dying."
The letter - along with 1000 names of the doctors who support it - has been published as a full-page advertisement in today's Herald on Sunday.
The advert was taken out by the Care Alliance, a charitable trust committed to nurturing better conversations about dying in New Zealand, according to the website: doctorssayno.nz
It lists the names of all the doctors who have supported the letter, and urges others to sign up too.
The letter publication comes after a Canadian doctor who has taken part in champagne parties before administering lethal drugs to her patients urged Kiwi MPs to support the vote to legalise euthanasia.
Dr Stefanie Green says 90 per cent of her medical practice has become euthanasing people since Canada legalised euthanasia in 2016. Photo / Supplied
Dr Stefanie Green, who has personally euthanised 150 people since Canada legalised assisted dying in 2016, has been brought here by the End of Life Choice Society.
The bill passed its first reading by a massive 76-44 margin in December 2017, but MPs opposing the bill predict a dramatically tighter margin of less than five votes on the second reading.
Seymour says the second reading debate is likely to start at 7.30pm on Wednesday, with a vote expected around 10pm.
Green, a former maternity doctor, said she stepped up to help people wanting to end their lives because other doctors were unwilling to do it after Canada legalised euthanasia. Euthanising people is now 90 per cent of her practice.
"We have had about 8000 assisted deaths, with no charges against any physicians for any abuse of the system," she said.
Patients had to meet "rigorous criteria", she said, and about a third of people who requested euthanasia did not receive it.
But she said the actual deaths for those who were approved were usually in "a very beautiful environment".
"For some people it's quiet, and for some people we've had 50 people and champagne - quite often there is champagne," she said.
"There is often a celebration of life just before the death. Assisted death enables people to have a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones and for their loved ones to say goodbye to them."
David Seymour plans to amend his bill to allow euthanasia only for those who will die anyway within six...

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Anne-Marie Sharon Brady is a New Zealand politics researcher and full professor at the University of Canterbury who specialises in Chinese politics. Listen to the audio above as she speaks to The Weekend Collective.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong was bracing Sunday for another massive protest over an unpopular extradition bill that has highlighted the territory's apprehension about relations with mainland China, a week after the crisis brought as many as 1 million into the streets.
Pro-democracy activists say Chief Executive Carrie Lam's announcement on Saturday that she was suspending work on the bill that would allow some suspects to be sent for trial in mainland Chinese courts is not enough. They want the proposal withdrawn and are calling for Lam to step down.
The communist government in Beijing issued statements backing Lam's decision.
Over the past week, hundreds of thousands marched to demand Lam drop the legislation, which many fear would undermine freedoms enjoyed by this former British colony but not elsewhere in China.
The battle over legislation has evolved into Hong Kong's most severe political test since the Communist Party-ruled mainland took control in 1997 with a promise not to interfere with the city's civil liberties and courts.
On Sunday, mourners laid flowers on the pavement near where a man fell to his death a day earlier after hanging a protest banner on scaffolding on a shopping mall.
Emergency workers tried to cushion the man's fall but failed to catch him.
Critics said Lam should withdraw the plan for good, resign and apologize for police use of potentially lethal force during clashes with protesters on Wednesday.
"Democrats in Hong Kong simply cannot accept this suspension decision," said lawmaker Claudia Mo. "Because the suspension is temporary. The pain is still there."
The decision was "too little, too late," she said.
"Hong Kong people have been lied to so many times," said Bonny Leung, a leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, one of the groups that has helped organize the demonstrations.
Lam has said the legislation is needed if Hong Kong to uphold justice, meet its international obligations and not become a magnet for fugitives. The proposed bill would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.
China has been excluded from Hong Kong's extradition agreements because of concerns over its judicial independence and human rights record.
Speaking to reporters after announcing her decision Saturday, Lam sidestepped questions over whether she should quit. She insisted she was not withdrawing the proposed amendment and defended the police.
But she said she was suspending the bill indefinitely. It was time, she said, "for responsible government to restore as quickly as possible this calmness in society."
"I want to stress that the government is adopting an open mind," she said. "We have no intention to set a deadline for this work."
She emphasized that a chief concern was to avoid further injuries both for the public and for police. About 80 people were hurt in the clashes this past week, more than 20 of them police.
"It's possible there might be even worse confrontations that might be replaced by very serious injuries to my police colleagues and the public," she said. "I don't want any of those injuries to happen."
Lam apologized for what she said were failures in her government's work to win public support for the bill, which is opposed by a wide range of sectors in Hong Kong, including many teachers, students, lawyers and trade unions.
But she insisted the bill was still needed. "Give us another chance," she said.
The extradition bill has drawn criticism from U.S. and British lawmakers and human rights groups, prompting Beijing to lash back with warnings against "interference" in its internal affairs.
But analysts say China also has to weigh...

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Listen to the audio above as David Seymour, leader of the ACT Party, joins the Weekend Collective.
Freedom is the buzz word at the ACT Party's relaunch in Auckland today.
It's announced a freedom to earn, and a freedom of education policy, to go alongside its freedom of speech pledge.
ACT Party leader David Seymour says they plan to bring in a universal tax rate which would be 17.5 percent.
He says the government shouldn't be taking more money from people as a punishment for success.
As part of the relaunch, ACT has added the colour pink to its logo and called today's conference the party's watershed moment.
Leader David Seymour says the colour change represents a modernisation and shows the party is inclusive.

He says it's not about any particular group - but with the colours yellow, blue and pink they cover everybody.
Speakers at its annual conference also highlighted free speech policy and opposition to gun laws passed after the Christchurch shootings.

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Listen to the audio above as Tracey Martin speaks to The Weekend Collective
The Minister for Children Tracey Martin has announced an inquiry by Oranga Tamariki will take place into the process around the attempted uplift Hawke's Bay Hospital last month.
Martin met with Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana, Minister of Crown/Māori Relations Kelvin Davis and Minister of Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta in Hastings this afternoon.
"We have to remember this is about a family. This was a family that didn't have a lot of power to start with if any, and they're actually now experiencing quite a lot of things going on around them again without them having any power over it," Martin said.
"This is their information. It is an internal review around what happened to them. There will be a level of information that will be shared with them and iwi but will not go public because this is their journey," she said.

"This will be led by the voice of whānau and there will be an independent person that Ngati Kahungunu is comfortable with as part of that process".
She said further details would be announced in the next two days.

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There has been "universal condemnation" at the actions undertaken by the Australia federal police against two media organisations.
The head of Australia's public broadcaster ABC said she has "grave concern" about a recent police raid on the corporation's headquarters in connection with a 2017 story based on leaked documents that indicated the country's military forces were being investigated for possible war crimes in Afghanistan.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. Chair Ita Buttrose said the raid Wednesday in Sydney was "clearly designed to intimidate."
Buttrose said Friday she had a "frank conversation" with a government minister and that, "As ABC chair, I will fight any attempts to muzzle the national broadcaster."
The Sydney raid, in which documents were taken, came a day after federal police searched the Canberra home of Annika Smethurst, the political editor of The Sunday Telegraph of Sydney, over a 2018 story detailing an alleged government proposal to spy on Australians.
News Corp. Australia, the parent company of The Sunday Telegraph, said the raid "demonstrates a dangerous act of intimidation towards those committed to telling uncomfortable truths."
ABC host Michael Rowland told the Weekend Collective that the two raids has sparked fears over freedom of speech. 
He says that people feel it is not coincidental that the raids have come shortly after the Australia election. 
"There are many question marks raised over this. In terms of the ABC raids, there are question marks as a military lawyer has put his hand up and said he gave us the documents. The Federal Police know how we got the documents."
Rowland says that people feel that this may not have happened had the Liberal-led Coalition not won the election, but that both major parties have very similar views on national security.
"When you look at it more broadly, both parties are complicit in this, but we do have the Labor Party expressing its concern and calling for a wider review." 
There were no arrests in either raid. Australian law forbids officials from disclosing secret information, and the police warrants in both raids were based on a law enacted in 1914.
Police said in a statement that the two raids were not linked.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the ABC raid was a matter of police "soberly and calmly" enforcing the law.
"What is important here is two things: the government is committed to press freedom ... (and) the government is absolutely committed to ensure that no one is above the law."

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A new report reveals an overwhelming sense of desperation and frustration with our justice system.
Key themes include the over-representation of Maori, the silo approach of government departments and a jargonistic court system.
The report was produced by the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group.
Chair Chester Borrows, who has worked in the justice sector for over 40 years, says he's not surprised by what's come through.
"I'm always shocked at how blunt a lot of the bad behaviour and the bad responses people get is."
He says the report is a voice from the public.
"A voice that's largely been unheard and it's a pretty stark reminder that people don't think the Justice System is working very well at all."
Speaking to The Weekend Collective, Borrows says that the Police Commissioner has admitted himself that Police have been engaging in habits that are considered racists for some decades.
He says that evidence shows that people who are Maori going through the justice system are more likely to be prosecuted or receive a longer and harsher sentence.
"If you say 'are Justices racist', well, it's pretty public for them to make this accusation, and that's what we are hearing."
Borrows' report has also found that victims find the court process as traumatic as the crime that was committed against them. 
Borrows wants to see an end to the 'silo' approach of all the organisations within the justice system, and is calling for a new, 'joined-up view' that will see a collective approach to tackling these issues. 
"We need to do something about it. It's all our job as New Zealanders."

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Some principals are warning of a new wave of inequality after the Government announced plans to scrap school donations for some schools - but not all.
The 2019 Budget included more than $75 million a year to pay $150 per child to schools in deciles 1 to 7 if they agreed not to ask families for donations.
Albany Senior High School principal Claire Amos joins The Weekend Collective to discuss the issue.
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This Tuesday will mark 30 years since the bloody event, which saw Chinese authorities brutally shut down long running student protests, killing thousands of people in and around the central square in Beijing.
Stephen Hoadley is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. He joined The Weekend Collective to discuss the 30 year anniversary to one of China's darkest days.
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