Curtailing our right to know about the right to die with dignity

So how would Ramon Sampedro have faired if he had been an Australian today? First, he would have needed to get information about his options without using the phone, fax, email and the net. Difficult, but not impossible. Best-selling books such as Derek Humphry's Final Exit, available at your local bookshop, contain all that the Sampedros of this world need to know.

Second, because he was a quadriplegic and unable to do things for himself - Ramon Sampedro needed his friends. He needed enough people willing to risk legal persecution to help him. In The Sea Inside we see Sampedro on his death bed, drinking his potassium cyanide by a straw from a glass beside his bed, while his anonymous, able-bodied and loyal friends toast him with champagne.

What we don't see is the thousands of strangers who bought keys to his apartment, as a strategy to deflect the gaze and blame away from those who did help him.

So while the Australian Government moves heaven and earth to deny honest Australians honest information, luckily, the real power lies with the people. And, as the "Get Up Stand Up" generation showed everyone in the '60s, people power cannot be stopped, not even by a politician. Dabble on, minister.