Acclaimed journalist Ray Martin takes an investigative deep dive into one of Australia's last taboos, death, as he plans | dHNfNWR6Zk56bG44RU0
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00:00Dear friends, we are gathered here today to pay respect to one of our nation's finest
00:27storytellers. He has interviewed world leaders and A-list celebrities. He has negotiated
00:35red carpets and war zones. And yet, there is but one final, vital experience left. Death.
00:53Hang on reverend, I'm not dead yet. Touch wood. But statistically speaking, given my
00:58age, the clock is ticking and I've got four years to go.
01:07So have I planned my funeral? Have I bought the box, worked out my favourite music and
01:12who's going to speak? No to all the above. Now I'm not alone in this. Only one in five
01:18Australians have talked to their family or their friends about how they want to go. The
01:22next decade we'll see more deaths than any other time in Australia. We're about to reach
01:27peak death. Peak death it's called. My temperatures were
01:34at a record high. My mission in this series is to look death in the eye. And nothing is
01:41out of bounds. Would you have a nude funeral? Provided we can wear footwear so we're OHDS
01:48As I try to figure out how I wish to go. It's a violent act. 1800 degrees. Burnt or buried?
01:56Because I'm not going down there. Excuse me, but are there any other options please?
02:02We can transform your body into part of the ecosystem. You cease to be human. Hang on,
02:08how much is all this going to cost me? We had a class coming in over $46,000 for the
02:13coffin alone. Quick question, is death like taxes really inevitable? I'm going for eternal
02:19life. Will his body remain the same there for? Essentially the same for centuries. Is dying
02:25any different across our many cultures? Our job now is to get this deceased into the next world
02:34as quick as possible. There may be sadness, but hopefully celebration. So you can put your ashes
02:41in a firework. There they go. It's clear as I reach my final chapter that I'm not accepting
02:48this pig death stuff comfortably. Any vision of how long I've got to go and what's it like on the
02:55other side? But you can't control when you die. Yes I can. So how ready for death are you? What
03:02will you choose for your last goodbye?