The Power of Choice
By Julian Kingma
Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2025
Julian Kingma is an award winning art photographer whose work has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, the Sunday Age, Rolling Stone and the .
By his own admission, Kingma was a sensitive kid who suffered from anxiety and always had “a mortal fear of dying”.
Remarkable then, that after listening to founder Andrew Denton’s 2021 podcast “Better Off Dead”, which told the stories of those seeking Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD), Kingma’s fear of his own mortality was outweighed by how powerful it could be to put faces to the names.
After connecting with Denton, Julian spent the next 12 months traversing Australia to record the last days of terminally ill people’s VAD journeys.
The result is The Power of Choice, a raw and beautiful eulogy to them all and an irrefutable testimonial to the relief and comfort VAD gives the dying.
It opens with forewords by Denton and Richard Flanagan. Denton writes of the helplessness as his own father lay dying in a pre-VAD world, the family “mute and frozen witnesses” to a tortuous death from heart disease.
Flanagan tells of terrible deaths witnessed by his rural GP brother and eloquently explores what constitutes a good and a bad death.
“They choose it [VAD] because they want the power of choice” Flanagan writes “not the impotence of an interminable torment”.
Then there are the pictures.
They form a sublime and unforgettable tapestry of end-of-life moments woven by a master craftsman with a genuine affection for his subjects.
It’s a stunning tribute to the extraordinary courage of people felled by terrible diseases who courageously allowed him to photograph their final days and last goodbyes in support of the VAD movement.
His first subject was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) sufferer Sue Parker, who Julian said “cheerfully got me drunk ... and allayed all my fears about imposing”.
Sue expressed gratitude she could “sail away in peace” as her motor function deteriorated.
“I’m a trained nurse,” she said. “I know what my future holds.”
The reflections of participants highlight the relief VAD gives, how it allowed them to live their last days engaging fully with loved ones, knowing they had power over what would otherwise be an horrific, protracted end.
The work covers medical professionals including doctors, nurses, care navigators and pharmacists, who express gratitude to be instrumental to the process.
An entire chapter is devoted to carers, bearing witness to their fearless advocacy and unconditional love.
It doesn’t shy away from the fear of death. The last photo in the book is of Julian embracing Nigel Taimanu, who is dying of advanced skin cancer.
Nigel said of course he was afraid, but “in the end it was an easy decision. I didn’t want to starve to death and I don’t want people to watch me suffer.”
The book ends with the practicalities: a chart of the VAD process, a timeline of VAD laws, a glossary and contact information.
The Power of Choice tells VAD stories without descending into sentimentality. It is a master class in portrait photography and brings the true value of VAD into sharp focus. A highly recommended read, it leaves opponents of VAD with nowhere to turn.
[Thanks to Jane Morris, President of , for donating a copy of the book for review.]