An Australian archbishop has demanded an investigation by ABC, the country’s public broadcaster, over its coverage of calls to lift a ban on using telehealth for assisted suicide. Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of Sydney said the broadcaster’s impartiality obligations demanded an investigation.
In a letter to the ABC ombudsman, Archbishop Fisher said the broadcaster repeatedly provided opportunities for Andrew Denton, an advocate for assisted suicide, to make the case for amending the federal prohibition of the practice.
Conversely, he stated that the “principal arguments for retaining the prohibition were not put forward by those who hold them; rather, they were largely summarised or characterised by Denton”, a former ABC television host.
Assisted suicide is legal across Australia except for the Northern Territory, though it is expected to join the rest of the country in permitting the practice soon following majority support for the Rights of the Terminally Ill bill. Called voluntary assisted dying (VAD), it first came into effect in the state of Victoria in 2019, before being followed by other states and territories through to 2025.
The Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction to legalise assisted suicide in 1996 following the introduction of a private member’s bill. However, the federal Parliament rescinded the effect of the law before restoring its right to pass the legislation in 2022.
The archbishop said: “The imbalance is particularly significant because three of the relevant items, as well as two associated social media posts, were published or broadcast in the four days immediately preceding an Australian Labor Party National Conference vote on the issue being advocated. The subsequent 7.30 interview occurred in the context of a foreshadowed parliamentary attempt to amend the law.”
Last month, Australia’s governing Labor Party voted to support the removal of federal legal barriers preventing euthanasia consultations from taking place by telephone or video call. It also changed the party’s constitution to allow MPs a conscience vote on future voluntary assisted dying legislation.
Archbishop Fisher continued: “In those circumstances, providing an alternate perspective at some indefinite later time could not remedy the absence of diversity during the period in which the issue was the subject of an active and imminent political decision.
“Given the significance of the issue, the imminence of the political decisions to which the coverage related, and the ABC’s particular obligation to maintain public confidence in its impartiality, I ask that these matters be carefully investigated and addressed.”
The archbishop stated that Denton omitted his immediately preceding response, which stated “that the goal of the Catholic Church is to reduce suffering”.
