The 25-year-old ban that prevented the Territory and the ACT from enacting their own voluntary assisted dying laws has been overturned in a historic day in the Senate, following a vote to end the ban after hours of debate in Canberra on Thursday night.

However, the Fyles Government has indicated it will not move to debate and develop new euthanasia laws during this Assembly, despite the ACT indicating it would move to enact legislation within 12 months.

Yesterday’s conscience vote was the fourth attempt in nearly 15 years to restore the territories’ rights after unsuccessful efforts to overturn the ban in 2008, 2010, and 2018.

The passing of the bill does not mean that euthanasia is now legal in the NT, but it does give the NT Parliament the right to debate and pass legislation that would restore voluntary assisted dying laws.

Former chief minister Marshall Perron, who was present in the gallery during the senate debate, thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for “doing what his five predecessors didn’t do”.

“And that’s facilitated the debate on returning power to the territories,” he said. “There has been a bill before parliament to do exactly that, continuously now, for 18 years.”

Mr Perron’s Country Liberal Party government was responsible for initiating the world’s first legal euthanasia scheme in 1995, but that was overturned by the then-federal Liberal member of parliament Kevin Andrews who led the Commonwealth’s push to abolish the voluntary assisted dying law.

Member for Solomon Luke Gosling, who introduced the legislation with an ACT senator, said this morning that he wondered if the day would ever come that the NT would be given the right to legislate on euthanasia.

“But we were all hopeful,” he said on Mix 104.9.

“We were confident that we would get the numbers. And I think he would have slept well last night.”

NT Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said in the Senate Thursday night that the Territory was ready for the rights.

“The NT has grown, exponentially, in skills, knowledge, and ability to make its own decisions,” she said.

“We have great thinkers, we excel at so many levels. Why is it we are constantly told we cannot make decisions for ourselves?”

“This is a significant and historic moment and one that a lot of people have fought a long time to witness,” said ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher, who campaigned to rid the ban for years, including when she was chief minister of the ACT. “I know how much the restoration of territory rights matters to Canberrans.”

Country Liberals Senator Jacinta Price supported the bill even though her amendments were rejected that she had said would protect vulnerable Territorians with disabilities and mental illness. She said on Friday that she was still concerned about the NT Labor Government legislating euthanasia laws given their record of rushing bills through Parliament without proper public consultation.

“I ahave very little trust in the current Fyles Government,” she told Mix 104.9. “And considering there have been members of the Labor Party who have supported an individual within their ranks who has been sentenced after child rape, that’s another reason for me to have very little trust.”

Ms Price attracted controversy last week after first refusing to support the bill due to her concerns, but did support it in the end, despite the NT News falsely reporting she had voted against the bill on Thursday.

The Fyles Government celebrated the new powers but said it would not be moving to enact any laws any time soon.

“The passing of the Territory Rights Bill will now allow important conversations – which have been previously blocked by Federal policy – to take place,” Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Chansey Paech said.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said that her government will not prepare euthanasia legislation during this parliamentary term as the next election is less than two years away.

“The passing of the Restoring Territory Rights Bill in the Federal Parliament is a win for democracy and all Territorians,” she said. “Territorians deserve the same rights as every other Australian. Today we have made a positive step forward in deciding what is best for ourselves.”