Clem Jones
Clem Jones (16 January 1918 – 15 December 2007) was born in Ipswich, Queensland. A surveyor by trade, he was also a successful businessman and philanthropist. He was a long-time supporter of voluntary euthanasia law reform in Australia.
Jones attended Anglican Church East Grammar School in Brisbane and graduated from the University of Sydney with a BSc. He was the longest-serving Lord Mayor of Brisbane, representing Labor from 1961 to 1975 - although he refused the salary . Jones then moved to Darwin to head the Darwin Reconstruction Commission in the wake of Cyclone Tracy. Among other accolades, he was made Officer of the Order of Australia in 1976 and Queenslander of the Year in 1990, followed by an honorary doctorate in 1996.
Jones' wife Sylvia died in 1999; they had no children. After his death from pneumonia, a month short of his 90th birthday, he bequeathed his estate to various charities ("Clem Jones' Spirit Lives on", 2007). This included committing $5 million to set up the Clem Jones Group, an enterprise dedicated to continuing his "community, business, and philanthropic works [...] including support for voluntary assisted dying (VAD) law reform across Australia". In his will, Jones stated:
If we have a definition of living of any sort, it cannot include the existence of people simply artificially kept alive against their will and in circumstances that can only be described as totally inhuman or barbaric. I do not of course criticise the splendid endeavours that the medical fraternity make to preserve the quality of human life but when that quality falls to a level where life is one of pain and suffering or where one’s mind can no longer function, those selfsame medical practitioners should have the right and the responsibility of releasing persons from that torture, misery, and indignity. (The Clem Jones Group, 2021).
Clem Jones' Spirit Lives On. (2007, December 18). The Courier-Mail (Australia). https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/clem-jones-spirit-lives-on/news-story/ced49c04ffe5478a057099c06f2a76d4
The Clem Jones Group. (2021). Submission by the Clem Jones Group to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice of the NSW Legislative Council on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/submissions/76532/0037%20The%20Clem%20Jones%20Group.pdf