Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has promised to make a vote to restore Territory rights to legislate on voluntary euthanasia a priority if he wins the next federal election.
All three ACT political parties – Labor, Green, and Liberal – unanimously moved earlier this year that the Federal Government should return the Legislative Assembly’s power to determine its own policy on assisted dying. All the Australian states can do so: Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland all passed legislation this year allowing voluntary assisted dying, and Western Australia began its assisted suicide scheme. But the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 (‘the Andrews Bill’) inserted restrictions into the ACT and Northern Territory’s self-government acts, preventing those parliaments from legislating on voluntary assisted dying.
“The Andrews Bill which passed during the Howard era unfairly and significantly restricted the democratic rights of residents in both the ACT and the Northern Territory,” the aCT’s four federal Labor politicians – Senator Katy Gallagher, Hon. Dr Andrew Leigh MP, David Smith MP, and Alicia Payne MP – stated.
“It has never been fair that Canberrans have had less democratic rights than those who live over the border in Queanbeyan.”
If he becomes Prime Minister, Mr Albanese committed to facilitating the introduction, debate, and vote on a standalone Private Members / Senators Bill to allow territories to legislate on assisted dying, without intervention from the Commonwealth Government.
Labor members would be allowed a conscience vote on that Bill.
“Whether or not you support euthanasia – and we recognise the complexity and sensitivity of the arguments for and against – it is absurd that the NT and the ACT cannot make laws for their own jurisdictions, and that ACT and Northern Territory legislation can be overridden at the whim of the Federal Government,” the ACT’s federal Labor politicians said.
“Labor is on the side of the hundreds of thousands of Australians who live in the ACT and the NT through a solid commitment to facilitate a debate and a vote that would deliver them the same rights as millions of Australians living in the states.”
The ACT’s federal Labor politicians said that Liberal Senator, Zed Seselja – an outspoken opponent of assisted dying – would also have a choice to make after the election (assuming, that is, that Labor wins).
“He will need to decide whether he will vote to support the rights of Canberrans or do what he always does, which is put his own conservative views ahead of the best interests of the community that he claims to represent,” Senator Gallagher and the MPs said.
Senator Seselja believes that assisted dying is an “ethical threshold” that should not be crossed. He is concerned that vulnerable people would be pressured into suicide, and that governments might find it easier and cheaper to euthanise people considered a burden on society rather than to properly fund palliative care, which would offer a dignified death.
Today, Federal Labor Caucus also agreed that it would not support NT Senator Dr Sam McMahon’s Territory Rights Bill to restore the NT’s power to vote on assisted dying, claiming that it contained flawed extra elements, and that it failed to address the unfair restriction on territory rights in the ACT. Dr McMahon said she did not include the ACT in her bill because Senator Seselja “wasn’t keen”.
“The most significant part of Labor’s announcement today,” Senator Seselja retorted, “is that Senator Gallagher and Labor will oppose Senator McMahon’s Bill in this term of Parliament, despite claiming to support the principle of the Bill.
“It’s clear Senator Gallagher and Labor are just playing games with this issue, declaring they have no intention to support or amend Senator McMahon’s Bill, and are instead using this issue solely for political point scoring.”
