The Territory’s MLAs wrestled with their personal beliefs and their duty to their constituents with plenty of tears shed while debating the proposed Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, a bill that is expected to ultimately see the NT regain its voluntary assisted dying rights this week after losing them 30 years ago.
Debate started shortly after 10am Tuesday and continued into the night, while the vote on the proposed legislation will occur on Thursday when parliamentarians will sift through the finer details of the bill.
The clashes are expected then, when proposed amendments that would remove the current 12-month prognosis timeframe and the doctor gag clause will be voted on before the ROTI bill goes to a vote.
Some MLAs said Tuesday that while they did not personally support VAD, they would support the bill because their constituents have called for it.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby took a combative tone ahead of sittings at a press conference Tuesday morning, telling journalists repeatedly that she would “not apologise” for the bill as it currently stands, adding that she was the person who decided to add the two controversial conditions as “safeguard measures”, despite other safeguards in the bill addressing concerns around protecting “vulnerable people” from coercion and influence.
“These are really important safeguards and I make no apologies for the fact that I wanted these safeguards in there,” she said.
Ms Boothby did not say if she had been advised on those two conditions.
She said all CLP members – including ministers – will be voting with their conscience and not directed by the Chief Minister or party on either the proposed amendments to scrap the two controversial conditions or the bill itself.
“There are amendments that people will put forward and of course those will be voted on, but what I do know is that at the end of Thursday, when that debate is finalised, we will pass that bill,” Ms Boothby said.
“We’ve had confirmation from the majority of the CLP members of Parliament that this bill, in whatever form takes place, will pass on Thursday.
“I think these safeguards are critically important. I think it’s really dangerous for them to be removed and so that is why they are in there.”
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro told Parliament later she was proud her government was introducing and passing the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill and reiterated she will not be supporting the amendments that will be put forward by CLP backbencher Tanzil Rahman to remove the two conditions.
“This reform is patient-led, it has the safeguards that Territorians require to have confidence in both our health system and our ability to deliver voluntary assisted dying with dignity and care,” she said.
But the amendments will be supported by Labor MLAs and independent MLA Justine Davis, as well as CLP backbenchers Brian O’Gallagher, Laurie Zio and Matthew Kerle, and potentially other backbenchers and ministers.
Mr O’Gallagher said the gag clause restricting doctors from starting a conversation about VAD with terminal patients was “unenforceable and only complicates this legislation by the insertion of a symbolic protection that in reality diminishes the rights of Territorians to access voluntary assisted dying”.
Labor Member for Gwoja Chansey Paech told Parliament he will abstain from voting on the legislation due to concerns over the potential for poorly run VAD services to erode trust in Aboriginal communities in his electorate. But he said he will vote in favour of the amendments to strike out the prognosis timeframe and gag clause.
“After listening, thinking, reflecting and searching my conscience, I have reached a position that I cannot vote for this bill, but I cannot also vote against it,” he said.
“For something this profound, consultation must be more than ticking a box and saying that remote communities were consulted. People need time. They need information so that they can understand. I remain concerned that consultation did not reach every remote community…and that information was not universally available in first languages.”
Speaker Robyn Lambley spoke as the independent Member for Araluen to say she would support the legislation but said she has “real issues with this bill, around the hypocrisy, the contradictions, and the lies contained in it”, specifically involving the lack of the term “assisted suicide”.
“I will be voting for it regardless, but this House deserves to hear those issues stated plainly, not glossed over,” she said. “Before I do, I will be clear that I will be supporting this bill, despite the issues I have with some of the premises underpinning this bill and some of the specific features of the bill.
“As a society, we treat suicide prevention as one of our most important undertakings, and rightly so. Yet voluntary assisted dying is assisted suicide. The paradox is stark.
“One arm of government spends to stop people ending their own lives, while another arm legislates to help them do exactly that, provided they meet eligibility requirements.”
Children and Families Minister Robyn Cahill said she was personally against VAD, but will support the bill because of the views of her electorate. Minister for Seniors Jinson Charls also said he was personally against voluntary assisted dying but would support it because of his constituents. Ms Cahill and Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley stressed that the process was “voluntary” and would not effect those who do not wish to seek VAD services.
Many MLAs brought up the lack of effective palliative care across the Territory, which Ms Lambley said could result in “people…choosing voluntary assisted dying for want of any real alternative, not because it reflects their genuine preference”.
The vote on the bill and amendments will occur on Thursday.
Here’s hoping the anti VAD and associated religious nutters understand that they don’t have to use the system, they can voluntarily hang out for a long and painful death.