Planning for our failing.

Dying of stomach cancer, it was not that Max did not fit the bill, it was rather that there was no coordination of services. As a result, Max could not get his paperwork completed. Furious at a system that had let him down, he checked himself out of hospital and with only the clothes on his back, drove (and vomited) his way back south to his small cottage in outback New South Wales.

His parting words struck equal amounts of terror and shame into me then, as they do today. A former boxer, professional bodyguard and pro-golfer, Max told me 'you didn't do your homework Boy' and he was right.

I did not have a network of medical professionals in place to assess his condition and file his paperwork, as the legislation required. Nor did I have a psychologist, counsellor or social worker on hand to support him in working through the legislated safeguards. While I did what I could, it was never enough.

In suggesting a euthanasia clinics for Adelaide and Hobart ahead of the passing of the proposed pieces of legislation, I am, if you like, making good that Max Bell did not die in vain. Back in 1996, I swore to myself that should Australia ever have a law again and should I be involved that this time I would be prepared. This is why an Exit Clinic makes sense and a lot of it.

To suggest that the mere act of passing the Key Bill in South Australia or the Giddings/ McKim Bill in Tasmania is the end of the story is naïve. Rather, it is the beginning of our story, so let's plan ahead and let's be sensible in the hope that the politicians follow suit.