Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy says it’s ‘beyond time’ for NT to make its own laws on assisted dying – ABC News

All four of the Northern Territory's federally elected members want the NT to be able to make its own laws on assisted dying, but a bill passed by the Commonwealth in 1997 is still preventing them from doing so.

The NT's two senators Labor's Malarndirri McCarthy and the Country Liberal Party's Sam McMahon say the Federal Government should not have the power to stop territories from making laws on the issue.

Senator McCarthy described the move as an "unacceptable impingement" on the Territory Government's ability to make laws for their people.

"It is absurd that the NT and the ACT cannot make laws for their own jurisdictions, and that Northern Territory legislation can be overridden at the whim of the federal government with no consideration paid to the best interests of local people," she said.

"Whether or not you support euthanasia and I recognise the complexity and sensitivity of the arguments for and against it is beyond time to allow Territorians equal democratic rights to their fellow Australians by repealing the Andrews Bill."

This year, with Queensland, Tasmanian and South Australian Parliaments set to debate similar laws, NT leaders are, once again, calling for the territories to be able to legislate on voluntary euthanasia.

In 1995, the NT became the first jurisdiction in the world to formally legalise voluntary euthanasia and four people used it to die.

But two years later the Federal Government passed the Euthanasia Laws Act, which prevents both Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory from passing assisted dying laws.

Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, who put forward the bill, said he feared assisted dying laws could expose patients to "pressure, abuse and a loss of autonomy".

"The people who are most at risk are the most vulnerable, and a law which fails to protect vulnerable people will always be a bad law," Mr Andrews told Parliament.

Senator McMahon, who sits with the National Party, says the Andrews Bill never should have been passed.

"I don't think they should have done it at the time, the Territory showed it was progressive on this issue and well ahead of the rest of Australia," she said.

"It shouldn't have happened at the time and it certainly should be still in place."

Given the right regulatory framework, Senator McMahon says she was "fully supportive" of assisted dying.

In the 24 years since the Andrews Bill was passed, there has been a number of highly publicised movements to allow the ACT and NT to regain control of their euthanasia laws.

In 2018, the Senate considered Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm's bill to overturn that ban.

But that failed, with the bill losing 36 to 34 meaning the ACT and NT continues to have no right to legalise assisted dying.

Federal Labor Member for Solomon Luke Gosling says his office has been discussing a bill that would restore the rights of Territorians to legislate on euthanasia with Andrew Leigh from the ACT and other colleagues.

In 2018, Mr Gosling and Mr Leigh co-sponsored a bill to give the territories the ability to pass laws on assisted dying.

"In my first term, with the support of my ACT Labor colleagues, I introduced a private members' bill to restore Territory rights," Mr Gosling said.

"The Coalition Federal Government would not listen. But the fight is not over."

Speaking in support of the Restoring Territory Rights Bill in 2018, long-serving Federal Labor Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon told Parliament that Territorians deserved the same democratic freedoms as other Australians.

Mr Snowdon argued that it was not an issue of assisted dying, but an issue about ensuring people who lived in the ACT and NT had the same rights as Australians who live in states.

"We Territorians should have the same rights as every other Australians," he said.

But the Commonwealth's stance on euthanasia has not changed.

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese voted against the Andrews Bill in 1996, telling Parliament "I oppose this bill because I support human dignity".

"The issue of Territory rights extends beyond politics, given it concerns the principle of self-governance and we would welcome a bipartisan approach," a spokesman for Mr Albanese said in a statement.

When asked for an interview, a spokesman for Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter declined, saying there was nothing to add further to the one line provided.

"There are no plans to introduce legislation to repeal the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997," Mr Porter's spokesman has told the ABC on multiple occasions.

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Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy says it's 'beyond time' for NT to make its own laws on assisted dying - ABC News