Mother seeks justice after son’s assisted suicide

 

When 26-year-old Lucas Taylor informed his family of his decision to move from Berlin, where he had been working, to Japan to pursue career options, it seemed like a fresh start.

Little did his mother, Judi, home in Melbourne, know that March 5, 2012, would be the last time she would speak to her son. On April 26, Lucas’ body was discovered dead in an abandoned shed in Dresden, Germany.

Lucas had moved to Berlin from Australia in 2010 to work. When he became unemployed, he informed his family that he was going to meet friends in Europe, then fly to Japan to get a job.

On March 28, 2012, Judi received a letter from Dresden railway station, sent three weeks earlier, telling her Lucas had left his luggage there on March 12 and if she didn’t collect it, it would be destroyed.

Judi filed a missing persons report and with the help of her son, Bryce, hacked into Lucas’ email and Facebook account in an attempt to locate him which led them to an alternate email address.

Lucas had had email correspondence with euthanasia information and advocacy organisation, Exit International, and through members on the forum, gained access to the barbiturate drug, Nembutal.

Judi said there had been no warning so it was a complete shock to the family as they’d never even heard of Exit.

“I wondered why he would want to kill himself,” she said. “He was unemployed. He did an arts degree that he always regretted. He was a very deep-thinker. Things that were unjust at school would really upset him.

“He did carry a lot on his shoulders. I don’t know if anything had actually happened over there in Berlin. I don’t know if he self-diagnosed on Google or whether he was just severely depressed and decided that life wasn’t worth living. I’m just left guessing.”

Judi said there have been a lot of “don’t know whys”, but after contacting the Victorian Coroner’s Court two years ago, she has finally been asked to make a submission.

Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International said that his organisation should not have to take the blame for the death of individuals like Lucas and that society held some of the responsibility.

“It’s all very well for mothers for example to say: ‘This is a tragedy. My son went out and killed [himself],’ but what rarely happens is for the families themselves to look very closely at the family dynamics that may have underpinned some of that decision making,” he said.

“Those same individuals who want this information banned are totally unaware of, or it seems unconcerned, about the fact that the provision of this information is immensely beneficial to large numbers of elderly people.”

Exit International’s website says the organisation only provides membership to adults aged 50 and over and asks for photographic identification. However, with one tick of a box and possible fake photographic ID, Lucas gained access to the Exit forum online.

Mr Nitschke said that Exit upholds the age restriction as best they can by asking potential members for photographic identification, asking why they’re interested in Exit and want access to resources, such as the Peaceful Pill Handbook, and conducting searches based on their email addresses.

“We find people, in a sense, who are lying to us about why it is that they want access to the book,” he said. “If they’re doing that, we can, and we do, say quite quickly that because of that, they’re not going to be given access.

“If a person comes along and sets out to deceive and gets away with it and then effectively ends their life, what can you do about people who are out there attempting to try and thwart processes and get whatever they want? They may well have been acting in an informed way.”

Judi said that there was no record of Lucas ever being asked for photographic identification. He only had to pay his membership fee to gain full access.

Lucas told Exit International forum users that he had decided to use Nembutal in one of these posts. “Other people said, ‘Yep, that’s the way to go,’” Judi said. “No one ever said, ‘Why are you here? What’s your story?’”

In one of his final posts, Lucas admitted he was able-bodied and healthy. He asked how much Nembutal he needed to take. “A Doctor Ted, who was advertised in the newsletter as being a new staff member to handle questions told him it didn’t matter,” Judi said. “All he needed to do was…

“If he’d actually spoken to anybody about it who wasn’t from Exit, maybe they would’ve pointed out to him that this isn’t like choosing a university. This is something a whole lot more serious.”

Lucas and Judi Taylor 2010

Lucas told users on the forum that he would fly to Peru and “follow the plan”. Judi said he made bookings at a particular hotel and she found email receipts of tours he had planned which he said was suggested so that no one would be suspicious.

“Others said they were going to follow what was in the book, make sure lots of alcohol and cigarettes were around to make it look like they’d had a big night out, fallen over and died from misadventure,” she said.

“People inherently want to do the right thing. They think that at the end, it’ll be okay, they won’t be upsetting anybody and they’ve cleaned up the mess. What could be better? It becomes a selling point.”

Mr Nitschke said this practice is common amongst members who end their lives. “There’s a stigma associated with suicide and sometimes people don’t want that to be the case,” he said. “Many people don’t want ‘Cause of death: suicide’ on their death certificate.”

After purchasing Nembutal, users advised Lucas how to bring it back into Germany. Judi said the advice was detailed enough to include what type of clothing he should wear so he wouldn’t look like a drug-dealer.

“They said: ‘Don’t go via Berlin, it’ll be picked up. Go via Munich, for example, because it’s easy and they can’t check everybody,” she said. “There was a lot of mob mentality. It was if they were going on a camping holiday except they weren’t. They were killing themselves.”

Paul Russell, Executive Director at HOPE, an organisation that aims to prevent euthanasia, said even if euthanasia was administered by medical professionals, it could change how they see their patients over time

“When that kind of development happens, there’s no logical reason for not allowing anyone who wants it to have it regardless of whether they’re sick or not,” he said. “In principle, I wonder what would happen to the medical profession when those who are charged with healing all of a sudden also have the capability of killing.”

Mr Nitschke said that disenfranchising elderly people who benefit from access to information based on individuals who acted in ways that were not in their best interest is something he finds discriminatory and can never support.

“We’re trying to balance two things here and you should not, I think, use the example of one tragedy to try and then say that no one should get the information, because in my view, that’s a much bigger tragedy,” he said.

However, Mr Russel said that euthanasia in any circumstance is an act of despair which could have an impact that is much worse than expected if legalised in Australia.

“Once we start to talk in terms of euthanasia for people who are suffering from terminal illnesses, we really are giving a very clear message that we don’t see any hope and perhaps they shouldn’t either.”

March Against Monsanto

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Media backlash over racial misrepresentation

The Australian media has remained defiant in the face of multicultural diversification says chief executive of Africa Media Australia, Clyde Sharady.

Sharady said that negative media representation has put African Australians and refugees in a box by projecting fatalistic images and stories, associating Africans with disaster

“The reporting of Africa and Africans is more important because in my view, it leads [journalists] to choose particular stories that they think [are] right for them to publish and how they go about doing that,” Sharady said.

“A simple title of a story can have devastating consequences on people. We live in an environment where people can be attacked for who they are; for being black.”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that South African refugees are in the top 10 countries of birth, making up 0.8 per cent of Australia’s population.

The Apex gang, who ran riot through the streets of South Melbourne in May, were labelled by the media as “predominantly African”, along with members from the Middle East and the South Pacific.

Sharady said the motivation behind linking Apex to Africans in the media stemmed from satisfying an imaginary audience and reporting what they thought the community wanted to hear.

“If you don’t know any black people and the only time you hear about black people is when they’re doing bad things, it’s a natural to develop a bias that says ‘black equals bad’”, he said.

Zione Nthenda-Walker, founder of Incubate Foundation, said social responsibilities in the media are critical to normalising the experience of Africans in Australia, even more so than government.

“Professionally, I was starting to see an influx of people who are having challenges, particularly with the justice system,” she said. “Most people coming from these countries are coming as skilled migrants.”

“And not just challenges, but they actually blunted their own dreams because they believed that there was no opportunity for them in Australia.”

Ms Nthenda-Walker said that the number of assaults against African Australians increased with the amount of negative reports which circulated through the media.

“Young people of every background commit crimes every day,” she said. “It doesn’t impact you if a young white person commits a crime because everyone knows there are about a million white people doing amazing things.”

“Because it’s the only gateway to those communities, I would argue that the gatekeepers of that information, major practitioners, have this added responsibility to contextualize this information.”

Both Sharady and  Ms Nthenda-Walker said disappointment with the lack of diversity in the media led them to create programs and pathways for Africans into the media industry.

“What was most important for me on a media context was that young people wanted agency,” Sharady said. “They wanted to be able to articulate their own experiences directly.”

“When media organizations are thinking of reporting on stories more accurately and fairly, you have to actually reflect that by making sure you have diverse staff.”

Sharady began a website called Africa Media Australia in 2012 to promote positive stories for and about African communities to encourage diversity in the media and create insight into the challenges faced.

Africa Media Australia has previously run 12-week media training courses for community ambassadors in which representatives from different communities learned how to interact with journalists in mainstream media.

Ms Nthenda-Walker said what stood out to her most in a media context is that young African Australians want to be able to talk about their experiences directly.

Incubate Foundation are currently assisting with media diversity programs and workshops that Ms Nthenda-Walker said is connecting young African Australians to more established people.

“At the moment, we’re developing job ready programs. We’re developing entrepreneurial programs,” she said. “These established communities actually had no idea about these African communities that were struggling.”

Human Rights Activist and founder of Resilient Aspiring Women (RAW), Mariam Issa, was born in Somalia and grew up in Kenya before migrating to Australia in 1998.

Ms Issa said she believes that the stories shared by refugees strengthen them and create a platform for people from many different cultures to learn from.

“I feel like that’s why we’re here. In the beginning I did not know why I was in Australia,” she said. “I think this is a universal way of bringing us together to remind each other what we’ve lost of ourselves and what you’ve forgotten.”

Sharady said that the Australian media also reflects society and whilst Australian society has been extremely successful in promoting diversity, the media is falling behind.

“I think the media does pay a lot of attention to democracy, but not enough for diversity,” he said. “The moment the media becomes as interested in diversity as it is in democracy, then we will see much better things happening.”

Students kick goals with sporting programs

More children are taking an interest in traditional sport thanks to Sporting Schools Australia programs, according to physical education teacher, Laurie Krepp.

The program, partnered with more than 30 national sporting organisations, was launched at up to 70 per cent of primary schools across Australia in July last year.

The $100 million project was established by the Abbott Government in an attempt to increase younger generations’ participation in community sport and create a lifelong interest in sporting throughout Australia.

St Theresa’s Primary School in Albion, Melbourne, launched the AFL pilot program in 2015 to broaden the range of physical education opportunities for students.

Laurie Krepp, physical education teacher at St Theresa’s, said that the Sporting Schools program was fulfilling its role of increasing participation and creating awareness about traditional sports like AFL.

“Kids tend to spend more time looking at screens than they do being outside and keeping active. I think the Sporting Schools program has put some energy into trying to reverse that trend.”

Krepp said that the students did not have the same access to industry professionals before the Sporting Schools program.

“Before Sporting Schools, we didn’t have the range of outside providers coming in with sport-specific skills so that the children had access to a more traditional physical education program,” he said.

Sporting Schools launches at St Theresa’s Primary School

St Theresa’s ran soccer and basketball in term 1 and is running an AFL program through Sports Education and Development Australia (SEDA) and providers from the Western Bulldogs.

O’Donohue said each program offered by the AFL, partnered with Sporting Schools, was tailored to meet the needs and wants of individual schools, to maximise the benefit.

“If it’s a school that hasn’t had a strong presence in football we’ll run an introductory program,” he said. “If the school has had a pretty strong involvement, we’d offer them a more advanced program.”

The Coalition has confirmed that the $100 million Sporting Schools project will continue to be rolled out nationwide in 2016-17 to increase sporting participation ahead of the Rio Olympics. Increasing participation in local and community sports is also a policy priority for the Greens and the ALP.

Krepp said he thinks more children are joining clubs as a result of the program. “I think what we’re aiming to do through the Sporting Schools program is expose kids to opportunities in the community,” he said.

“All the providers that come to the school represent community sporting clubs. The kids are certainly expressing an interest in them and wanting the information.”

Play Sports Australia released a participation game plan last year encouraging sporting organisations to change, to keep up with the increasing amount of leisure activities available, especially online.

O’Donohue said that AFL programs are continuing to evolve to appeal to a wider range of age groups, for example the AFL 9s program which is aimed at teenagers aged 15 and above.

The AFL 9s competition is a more social, non-contact version of the game, with fewer players in a smaller field allowing more individual contact with the ball.

Krepp said St Theresa’s would continue to expand the range of Sporting Schools programs on offer and will host rugby and cricket later this year

“I’d like to continue to expand and broaden the childrens’ experience,” he said. “We’d like to run things like gymnastics and other programs that they’re less familiar with in the future.”

Male domestic violence victims call for equal rights

Male victims of family violence in Australia are not given enough access to support according to domestic violence victim, Franc Majcen.

Majcen, a 34-year-old man from New South Wales, suffered physical and verbal assault from his female partner during monthly arguments which gradually increased to once or twice a week and continued for over two years.

Majcen contacted authorities during some of these altercations and was told to “man up”. “They treated it like I wasn’t being abused or assaulted,” he said.

In 2014, Victoria Police statistics reported that 15,230 men in Australia were victims of family violence with the majority aged between 40-44-years-old, although age varied across States.

Regional journalist and past victim of domestic violence, Ron, said the lack of faith in male victims who report domestic violence is causing a reluctance to speak out.

“It’s deeply rooted in us all [males] to be tough and take it on the chin and you’re weak if you don’t,” he said.

One morning, during an argument, Majcen said his ex-partner hit him on the temple. When he saw her preparing to punch him a second time, he pushed her away.

“If I had taken that second one I would’ve been out cold on the floor,” he said. “My first instinct was to push her away and run with my kids.”

“I’ve worked in security. I’ve done training in self-defence in three different types of martial arts and I’ve taken hits. A woman can hit just as hard as a male can.”

Majcen took their children to his ex-partner’s parents before calling a refuge, but though sympathetic, none of the services catered for male victims.

When he returned to the house to pick up supplies, the police arrested him on domestic violence charges. When he told them what happened, they told him to fight it in court.

Majcen was not given access to legal aid or allowed to appeal his charges. “Whenever I called solicitors or legal aid I was always told I had nothing to stand on because I was male,” he said.

Social worker, Andrew Humphries has worked with both male and female victims of domestic violence and assisted 24 adult male victims of domestic violence in the last five years.

He said support usually occurs when family or community groups get involved for the safety of the children or if the man is seriously injured, but often, it’s inadequate.

“The screening tools they use in our hospitals only have positions on the form for female victims,” he said. “And when they’re in court they’re on their own.”

 “I’ve had a bloke beaten up by the brothers of the woman that assaulted him outside the courthouse because he was denied access to the safe-room. It’s female only.”

Majcen went to Sunrise and A Current Affair hoping to create some awareness for the lack of support for male victims, but the response was disappointing.

“They didn’t want anything to do with it. They even made me feel like I was the perpetrator,” he said. “We’re guilty. We’re always guilty. Even when proven innocent, we’re still guilty.”

The Royal Commission into Family Violence report released March 30th, 2016, acknowledged that the family violence system in Victoria needs to “respond more supportively” to male victims of domestic violence.

The report states that: “Like all victims of family violence, male victims should have their experiences acknowledged and have access to appropriate responses.”

Humphries said there’s room for improvement. “No matter how many there are, to deny them access to support services is a fundamental social justice and human rights issue.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing or suffering with mental health issues contact Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or through http://www.lifeline.org.au

Similarly if you or someone you know is experiencing sexual assault, and/or domestic or family violence call 1800RESPECT or visit http://www.1800respect.org.au for information and support.

Today Sunshine Tomorrow Cannes

What does the little western suburb of Sunshine have in common with the likes of Hollywood and Cannes?

The answer isn’t the usual tale of high-speed chases and crime which haunts the suburb like a historical myth. Instead, the reason lies with the Sunshine Short Film Festival (SSFF) which attracted international entries for the first time this year.

Standing in front of an audience that almost filled a room at Village Cinema, Sunshine Plaza, Bruce White, president of the Sunshine Business Association (SBA) and founding member of the SSFF, made an announcement.

“For the first time, the Sunshine Short Film Festival is the Sunshine International Short Film Festival,” he said with pride, acknowledging entries from France and Germany.

Going back four years, the festival had a humble beginning. It started as one of several events put on by the newly established SBA to celebrate the 150th anniversary of local government and the change of name from Braybrook Junction to Sunshine.

Residents had petitioned for the name of Sunshine after the Sunshine Harvester Works, an agricultural machinery manufacturing business based there, which became the largest manufacturing plant in Australia at the time.

Being a largely industrial area, the suburb wasn’t designed to be scenic and gained a reputation as being working-class and one of the poorer, disadvantaged suburbs.

Mr White said that this is a historical mindset which isn’t specific to Melbourne’s west. “You’re not in the affluent suburbs if you’re from the western suburbs because you’re away from the water,” he said. “You’re in the blue-collar worker sector and you’re not as refined, or so the people believe.”

It was this mindset that Mr White hoped to change when he and two other volunteers organised a 30 minute documentary on the history of Sunshine that was screened to 4000 school children – a huge success.

“We got the feedback that the kids were very proud of the suburb then,” he said. “Traditionally, kids felt a little bit embarrassed to say to people they lived in Sunshine because of the stigmas and all that that goes with it.”

The 30 minute documentary developed into the idea of a film festival which would engage and teach young people to take pride in Sunshine’s heritage and familiarise older people with technology.

The Government provided a grant for the first Sunshine Short Film Festival in 2012 which was themed “Living in a Land Down Under”. The only conditions the SSFF committee gave to film makers were that it be filmed locally and make a reference to Sunshine.

Sixteen films were entered by families and various multicultural groups explaining why they lived in Sunshine. One of them, Mr White said, was filmed on a mobile phone by a 65-year-old woman who had never worked with technology before.

The festival was broadcast by GO GREEK TV, a Greek Foxtel channel, on Christmas Eve. It received an estimated 65,000 views Nationwide and the highest ratings that particular program had had that year, promoting the festival across Australia.

According to Mr White, now that the festival had National recognition, the second film festival themed “Sunshine Rising” became more about growing Sunshine’s brand than its history. The winning entry, a parody of South Korean pop star Psy’s “Gangnam Style” went viral overnight.

“Rising Sunshine Style”, a humorous take on the perception of Sunshine as a dangerous area, achieved over 30,000 views on YouTube in 24 hours and had journalists from Perth and A Current Affair calling Mr White for interviews with the winners.

Mr White said the video was so successful that a Charcoal Chicken shop in Sunshine Plaza which featured in the film opened two other stores as a consequence of the increase in business it received.

This wasn’t the only film featured in the festival that became popular. Sunshine resident, Andrew Robb’s five minute documentary on a local Vietnamese man who made Tofu for Sunshine’s Vietnamese community won the mobile phone category in 2013.

“Tofu Man” went on to win Best Documentary in the St Kilda Film Festival and was screened in California as part of a Vietnamese film festival. Mr Robb said this is a great example of what can be done, even without impressive technology.

“There [are] no technical requirements,” he said. “They’re not looking for the sharpest, highest production values in terms of film making. You don’t have to have the best technology you just have to have a good story.”

In 2014, the film festival went further to involve young people. The SBA partnered with Headspace, an organization for youth help and support, to hold a flash mob or surprise dance to promote the festival and its Halloween theme in a fun, unique way.

Thirty young people spent three months learning to dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” before performing outside Village Cinema in Sunshine Plaza. Andrea Skinner, a Community Awareness Officer at Headspace said that the event gave them a sense of purpose.

“The young people all felt very proud of themselves, having overcome some significant fears and anxiety in publically performing,” she said. “[The flash mob] provided a sense of inclusion and belonging and helped them with their social skills, developing confidence and self esteem.”

The 2015 film festival continued to raise awareness through a superhero theme chosen by the 2014 audience only this time, through the film makers.

People in costumes as fictional heroes and villains, otherwise known as cosplayers, created a red carpet vibe with cameras flashing and children dressed in colourful superhero costumes posing for photos with them.

But rather than films about traditional fictional superheroes, each film maker showed their own interpretation of the definition of a hero, taking the opportunity to create discussion about relevant societal issues.

The open category winning film “Ms Mighty” targeted sexism in the workplace, featuring a clumsy female superhero wannabe working with three men who pointedly excluded her before she developed self-confidence and became “Ms Mighty”, refusing to be left behind anymore.

Hayley Adams, producer of “Ms Mighty” came from the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne for the film festival. She said in an interview that she and the writers of the film were very feminist and wanted to get the message out.

“We knew when the superhero theme was announced that it would be quite male dominated,” she said. “So we wanted to do something a little bit different and sort of address those issues.”

“Ms Mighty” production team

The Friends of Kororoit Creek, an environmental group that conduct conservation work in the local community also presented a short film to the audience on being environmental heroes and cleaning and caring for the suburb.

This, Mr Robb said, was a great example of the cross-community effect of the film festival. “It’s not just for film lovers, but also reaches a broader community.”

The SSFF also indirectly tackled employment challenges for film makers. The Academy of Design Australia offers a scholarship to the entrant of the SSFF who shows the most promise in film and design, but alongside the scholarship, Mr White said people are entering work programs.

“The second year I think, one of the film makers ended up getting some commercial work in doing promotional films for different businesses,” he said. “Another one went and did some work with Film Victoria. And I’m pretty sure someone went into a sound engineering job as well.”

This year, the festival attracted 65 entries including three from Cabramatta Primary School in New South Wales and entries from France and Germany which Mr White said was a result of the prize pool of $5000.

“A lot of film festivals say you have to film within this time frame. It has to be fresh, never been seen before,” he said. “We don’t have that criteria. So if someone’s made a film for another event and it fits the brief we give, they send it through in the off-chance it’ll get screened and they’ll get money.”

Mr Robb said that he and most local and budding film makers do it for the love of film making and for the experience. “I love making short films and I like being part of the local community so all those things combined encourage me to enter each year,” he said.

“The festival offers a lot of benefits to new film makers because it encourages them to get involved and there’s a very high chance that you’ll see your film on the screen. It gives them a deadline to work to and discipline because it has to be five minutes and fit the particular theme.”

Mr White said that word spread so fast through local papers and social media that people are seeking them out to participate including the WTFN Network which is looking at films from the festival to turn into television programmes to sell overseas in China and Europe.

The festival is set to continue growing next year, with a “Knights in Sunshine” theme, bringing new film makers and the community together from all over Melbourne to celebrate the artistic diversity of Sunshine.

Click here to see the Sunshine Short Film Festival in full swing.