Liberal Senator Zed Seselja’s apparent reluctance to back a bill that could allow the ACT to legislate on euthanasia has frustrated Labor and Green politicians, while Liberals have urged him to reconsider.
Northern Territory Senator Dr Sam McMahon will introduce a private member’s bill to restore her jurisdiction’s power to vote on euthanasia. The Euthanasia Law Act 1997 (the ‘Andrews Bill’) prevents both Territories and Norfolk Island from passing laws permitting euthanasia. It was introduced to repeal NT legislation that permitted euthanasia, but in the last quarter-century, more Australian jurisdictions have legalised euthanasia or are considering doing so.
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Senator McMahon said her bill would only include the Northern Territory, not the ACT, because Senator Seselja opposed euthanasia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“I did originally try to include the ACT in it, but in my conversations with Senator Zed Seselja he wasn’t keen to do that,” the newspaper quoted her. “If Zed’s not interested and not going to support it, I don’t think it would be worth doing. I’d be better off just doing it for the Northern Territory.”
A spokesperson for Senator Seselja said: “The Senator’s views on euthanasia are well-known, and they have not changed. Individual senators are free to present legislation to the Parliament as they see fit.”
Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee, however, said her party had made their position clear: They had co-signed an Assembly motion with ACT Labor and the ACT Greens in March calling for the restoration of Territory rights in the ACT.
“I have made the views of the Canberra Liberals Legislative Assembly team very clear to Senator Seselja, and will continue to discuss this matter with him and other federal colleagues.
“The ACT Legislative Assembly is democratically elected by the people of Canberra. It should have the right to legislate on this matter on behalf of Canberrans; just as we have the right to legislate on a whole host of other matters dealt with by State and Local Governments across Australia.”
Ms Lee’s mentor, former ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell, also called on Senator Seselja to support the motion, the Canberra Times reported.
In this magazine, Gary Humphries argued that the Commonwealth ban – “an exercise in short-sighted paternalism” – needed to be removed. “Considered parliamentary debate is called for. The ACT parliament is mature enough to have such a debate.”
Labor
Labor MLA Tara Cheyne, ACT Human Rights Minister, believes voting on euthanasia is a human rights issue. On Facebook, she wrote that it made little sense that the euthanasia ban would be lifted in the NT, but not in the ACT.
“And it makes even less sense that a senator within a territory would be actively encouraging his colleagues to leave his own citizens behind on this issue – let alone going against the very public views of his own party.”
Senator Katy Gallagher had called on the Federal Government to restore territory rights concerning euthanasia when she was Chief Minister in 2014. She wrote on Facebook that she had written to him twice on this issue, but he had not replied.
“For people in the ACT, why is the ACT Senator Zed Seselja so against you having the same democratic rights as other Australians?” Senator Gallagher wondered.
Dr Andrew Leigh wants to move that the Territories should be able to legislate on euthanasia. Senator Seselja’s refusal to back territory rights put him at odds with every other ACT and NT representative in the federal parliament; every ACT MLA, including all the Liberals; and former ACT Liberal chief ministers Gary Humphries and Kate Carnell, Dr. Leigh observed on Facebook.
Greens
Greens Senate candidate Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng promised that if she were elected, she would do everything she could to remove the Federal Government’s control over what the ACT could legislate.
“This proves once again that Seselja does not represent the ACT community,” she said. “Canberra deserves a representative who will actually stand up and represent our city’s beliefs.”
The Greens have introduced eight bills to Federal Parliament seeking to restore Territory rights since the Andrews Bill removed the ACT’s right to legislate on euthanasia. In 2006, Dr Bob Brown introduced the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment, and most recently Dr Richard Di Natale introduced the Restoring Territory Rights (Dying with Dignity) Bill in 2016.
Greens MP candidate for Canberra Tim Hollo said: “It’s beyond ridiculous that Canberrans, the citizens of our capital, have fewer democratic rights than citizens of the states, and can’t change our laws in line with overwhelming public opinion.
“By replacing Zed with Tjanara, we can get immediate action on the right to legislate on euthanasia. But we also need to fix the mess on planning and get reform in a whole lot of other areas, and to get that we need more Greens in the House to pull the major parties to go further and faster,” Mr Hollo said.
