[求助]关于1997年阅读理解真题Passage 1的一个问题（此句中it指代什么？）

97年Passage 1

It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia's Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the group's on line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: “We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn't just something that happened in Australia. It's world history.”
The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally III law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right to life groups and the Australian Medical Association bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia – where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part — other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the US and Canada, where the right to die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.
Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death — probably by a deadly injection or pill — to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a “cooling off” period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54 year old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally III law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. “I'm not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I'd go, because I've watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks,” he says.

问题：
1、        He sent it on via the group's on line service, Death NET. 此句中it指代什么？

是哪个通过的关于安乐死的法案了！
个人意见请指正！！！

Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet

是不是指代word，关于安乐死的法案的消息？

同意3楼的

依据真题参考译文，it指代的是“公告”——bulletin

我认为：参考译文有点问题。
第一，send on是“转送”的意思。
第二，代词应该是指代前文的物而非后文的物。
因此，把it翻译成“公告”实为不妥。

然而，如果it是指代word，这句话又如何翻译呢？好像有不通啊！大家踊跃发表意见啊！

就是指的消息。