Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon has introduced a bill into the Senate which would allow the NT to legalise euthanasia.
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The Ensuring Northern Territory Rights Bill 2021, which Senator McMahon introduced on Wendesday afternoon, would repeal various sections of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978, which currently prevent the NT and ACT from legislating around several issues, including euthanasia.
The NT was the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalise euthanasia in 1995 before legislation preventing the NT and ACT from doing so, spearheaded by federal Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, was passed in 1996
Senator McMahon said her private Senator's bill aims to amend Territorians' status as "second class citizens."
"At the time the Federal parliament overturned The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (ROTTI) 1995 the Northern Territory was at the forefront of the euthanasia debate in Australia. But now, 25 years later we are behind the rest of Australia," she said.
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"It may have been in the mind of Federal Parliament [that] there was a time for the rights of Territorians to be denied back in 1996 but that time has passed and in 2021 Territorians deserve the same rights as all Australians."This is an historic day and I encourage all Australians to support Territorians in seeking equality."
Federal MP for the seat of Solomon, Luke Gosling, has also been fighting for the Andrews Laws to be reversed and introduced the Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2018 with federal member for the ACT seat of Fenner Andrew Leigh.
That Bill was knocked back by the federal Coalition.