Year 12: Term 1 (IA2): Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD)

Atwood Marshall Lawyers: Special podcast: Australia’s contentious laws on assisted dying – how to plan your end-of-life care

Victoria

Western Australia

• Parliament of  WA: Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019
• WA Government: Voluntary Assisted Dying
• W.A. Health Dept: Voluntary Assisted Dying
• WA Today: History Made as Voluntary Assisted Dying Becomes Law in WA
• The Guardian: Western Australia legalises voluntary assisted dying after 'momentous process'
• WA Govt: Parliament passes historic voluntary assisted dying laws for WA
• Go Gentle Australia: Assisted Dying Law - Western Australia You Did It!

Queensland

• Queensland Parliament: Inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care and voluntary assisted dying
  Note: This website contains transcripts of public and private hearings and briefings.
   
• Cherish Life: Euthanasia in Queensland
   
• Queensland Parliament: Inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care and voluntary assisted dying

Patients Rights Council: Euthenasia and Assisted Suicide in Australia
Some articles both for and against

ARGUMENTS FOR

• Dying With Dignity: Voluntary Assisted Dying
• Exit International: Voluntary Assisted Dying

ARGUMENTS AGAINST

• Cherish Life: Euthanasia in Queensland
• HOPE (Preventing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide): Issues 
  Includes anti-euthanasia views about the Victorian and WA legislation.
• Bioedge: What are the Five Best Arguments Against Euthanasia?

IN-TEXT REFERENCING FOR LEGAL STUDIES

In-text referencing from a journalist:

Journalist Mark Coleridge (2019) is convinced that a properly funded palliative care system might allow all to die with dignity.

If there were any doubt where the right to die in Australia was headed, the argument has now been settled (Walker 2019).

In-text referencing from a public figure (reference who has quoted their words)

Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews states ‘This has been a long journey for many many people who have advocated for more dignified, more compassionate choices at the end of a person’s life (Barraclough 2019).

Mark McGowan, Premier of Western Australia, stated ‘Today we showed that we can do big things … and in this parliament we have big, compassionate hearts, and we’re willing to take some political risks to do the right thing (Go  Gentle Australia 2019).

The ENTIRE collection of resources provided by the BBC Birtles Library can be searched on ONE single, powerful search platform, which retrieves print books, eBooks, database articles and websites. Click HERE for assistance.

AUSTLII - Australian Legal Information Institute. Probably the most valuable Internet site for legal research in Australia. It publishes public legal information, and includes primary legal materials (legislation, treaties, and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (law reform and royal commission reports, for example).

 JADE - a free database of Australian legal judgements

Lexscripta Legal Search Engines: Essential Web Links for Queensland Lawyers
Specialised legal search engine for independent research. An excellent Queensland site developed and maintained by Anthony Morris QC. Go to Legal Research link on the left hand border to begin your search. Notice the variety of options.

National Library of Australia: Australian Law - Selected Websites
Selected websites relating to all aspects of Australia's legal system

ABC: The Law Report
Informative, jargon-free stories about law reform, legal education, test cases, miscarriages of justice and legal culture. Download the audio of the individual story, read the transcript or listen to a podcast of the full program.

University of  Queensland Library - Free Online Resources for Secondary Schools: Legal Studies
Links to free resources for secondary school students including websites, databases and ebooks, provided by the UQL Cyberschool

University of Queensland Library - Legal Research Guide
Links to resources relating to the law. Some resources are available to all; some resources will be restricted to UQ students only.

QUT Library - Legislation Research (Australia)
Links to research for legislation. Some resources will be restricted to QUT students only.

Find Legal Answers - Information About the Law in NSW
State Library of NSW Legal Studies Research Guide. Useful for Commonwealth Government information.\

FindLaw Australia
Articles and News sections are particularly useful.

Queensland Government Legislation
Links to current reprints of Acts and their subordinate legislation with further links to historical versions of the reprint; links to Acts as originally enacted by Parliament for each year, to Subordinate legislation and to Bills.

Queensland Courts
Information from the Qld Supreme Court and District Courts. Includes fact sheets, transcripts, daily law lists and schedules and links to the Supreme Court library.

Queensland Parliament 
Research publications of the Qld Parliament. Research Briefs are prepared for Members of the Queensland Parliament, for use by parliamentary committees, in parliamentary debates and for related parliamentary purposes. Information in publications is current to the date of publication. Information on legislation, case law or legal policy issues does not constitute legal advice.

ComLaw
ComLaw has the most complete and up-to-date collection of Commonwealth legislation and includes notices from the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette from 1 October 2012.

Australian Law Reform Commission
This opens to the Publications tab. Also try the Media and News tab.
 

Australian Institute of Criminology
The Australian Institute of Criminology is Australia's centre on crime and justice. You can search here for resources and statistics on your topic.

Parliament of Australia: Key Internet Links on the Law

Google Advanced search techniques

1. You can complete an advanced search in Google Advanced Search, which helps narrow or refine your search for better, more specific results.

2.  Narrow your results to one particular domain type, by adding site: and a domain name to your search terms.

• Looking for an educational site -  genetic engineering site:edu
• Looking for a government site - genetic engineering site:gov
• To restrict your search to Australian websites, add '.au' -  genetic engineering site:edu.au

3. Use 'Ctrl F' (Control + Find) to search for particular terms easily in a long document, whether from a website or a database article.

4. Use a Google command to limit results to the MOST RECENT: After you get your results, choose the Google Menu Bar, and choose 'Tools'. Then on the far left, at the drop-down menu next to 'Any Time', .you can choose 'Within the last year' (or less, if you prefer), but generally, you can choose 'Custom Range' at the bottom, as often the last 3 to 5 years would be sufficient for a recent search.

5. Use Boolean searching

• Use double inverted commas ("...") to enclose a phrase eg "plastic pollution". This command forces Google to return results where these 2 words are exactly side by side.
• Use AND to limit your results: A search for this phrase - Australian AND Indonesian "plastic pollution" will force Google to return results where both Australian and Indonesian plastic pollution is mentioned in the same article.
• Use NOT to limit your results (in a different way): A search for this - "plastic pollution" NOT marine - will force Google to return results about plastic pollution which do not include anything related to the ocean.
• Use OR to expand your results: A search for this - global OR worldwide "plastic pollution" - will force Google to return results for global as well as its synonym worldwide.
• Use filetype:pdf to search in Google for only pdf articles - "plastic pollution" filetype:pdf - will force Google to return results on plastic pollution which are only pdf articles (PDFs are great sources sometimes deeply buried in Google results and remain unseen).

Check the quality of your websites using these criteria (adapted from QUT Library):

Currency: Timeliness of the information

• When was the information published, posted or last updated?

• Is the information current for your topic and field of study? How recent does it have to be? Can older sources work just as well?

Relevance: Importance of the information for your needs

• Is the information appropriate for a senior secondary course?

• Is this an adequately in-depth examination or a quick summary of the topic?

• Who's the intended audience? Is it the general public, a student, a researcher or industry?

• Is the level of information too basic or too advanced for your needs?

Authority: Source of the information

• Is the author/authoring body (individual person, or institution, or organisation) established and reputable?

• Are their qualifications, credentials, expertise, experience, educational background and previous work (if any) relevant and do they add credibility to the source?

• Has the piece been published by a well-known and respected publisher or organisation?

• Do references to other sources support the writing ie is a Reference List provided?

Accuracy: Reliability and correctness of the information

• Where does the information come from, and is it supported by evidence?

• Does it have a Reference List or Bibliography so you can easily find and verify the sources used?

• Are there any spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose: Reason the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information? Why was it written?

• Does the point of view appear objective, unbiased and impartial?

• Is the viewpoint of the author's affiliation/ sponsors reflected in the message or content?

• Does the author acknowledge alternative versions of the issues or facts?

Purpose: Reason the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information? Why was it written?

• Does the point of view appear objective, unbiased and impartial?