Chris Wake
Christopher John Wake was born in London. As President of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Medical Association in the 1990s, he was a vocal figure in the campaign against the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, uniting opposition under the banner Coalition Against Euthanasia (CAE) (Ban, 1996).
Wake said of the night in 1995 the Northern Territory Parliament debated the Rights of the Terminally Ill bill: "Basically there were some people who’d done their homework and ... put on a very good performance. There were others who were just also-rans. I don’t think the Northern Territory government covered themselves - the Northern Territory Parliament - with any glory on the night of May 25th. It was really quite... quite a poor scene to behold," and further claimed that Territorian ministers were drunk at the time the bill was voted on ("Australia: Dying for Euthanasia", 09:22).
In June 1996 Wake, along with Aboriginal leader Rev. Djiniyini Gondarra, attempted to challenge the passing of the bill by initiating legal proceedings against the Northern Territory Government (Wake & Gondarra v. Northern Territory of Australia & Asche, 1996). Wake and Gondarra submitted that the legislation was flawed, in part because "the legislative competence of the Northern Territory did not extend to the making of this [Act]". Their appeal was rejected 2:1 (Cica, 1997); however, the Territory's groundbreaking bill was ultimately overturned by Federal Parliament with the passing of the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997.
Ban, E. (1996). Voluntary euthanasia legalized in Australian Territory. Nature Medicine 2(4): 379.
Cica, N. (1997). Euthanasia - the Australian Law in an International Context. Part 2: Active Voluntary Euthanasia. Research Paper 4 1996-1997. Parliament of Australia. https://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/pubs/rp/rp9697/97rp4
Australia: Dying for Euthanasia [short film]. (1996) Journeyman Pictures/ABC. https://www.journeyman.tv/film/244
Wake & Gondarra v. Northern Territory of Australia & Asche. 112 (N.T. Sup. Ct. 1996). https://supremecourt.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/782574/1996-NTSCFC-56-Wake-and-Anor-v-Northern-Territory-and-Anor-24-Jul-1996-Martin-CJ-and-Angel-and-Mildren-JJ.pdf