The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would give the Northern Territory the right to set its own laws on voluntary assisted dying, with Federal MPs voting 99 – 37 to pass the bill.
The bill was introduced by Solomon MP Luke Gosling on Monday, which would overturn the euthanasia ban put on the territories by the Howard Government in 1997. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had agreed to allow a conscious vote on the issue.
It still has to go before the Senate before the NT Parliament can be given the power to legislate voluntary assisted dying laws.
If it passes the Senate, the bill would give the NT the same rights as states to vote on and draft voluntary assisted dying legislation.
Multiple campaigns over the years to restore the NT’s rights on euthanasia have ended in failure, however crossbench parties including the Greens, One Nation, United Australia Party and the Jacquie Lambie Network have all previously indicated their support for the bill to restore both the NT’s and the ACT’s rights on assisted dying laws.
Previous Liberal opponents to the NT’s rights to legislate are no longer in Parliament.
Five Labor MPs voted against the bill, while 26 Liberal and National MPs voted for it.
It could go to the Senate to be voted on next month.
Mr Gosling said when introducing the bill, that it should be treated as an issue of restoring democratic rights.
“That [legalising assisted dying] is not what is at stake here,” he said. “They are issues for the legislative assemblies to consult on, to debate and to decide.”
More to come.
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