A BILL to restore territory rights has passed in the House of Representatives, edging the ACT and Northern Territory closer to being able to set their own laws on voluntary assisted dying.
The private members bill passed by a vote of 99-36. It aims to overturn a 25-year-old ban on territories legislating on euthanasia.
The bill does not legalise voluntary assisted dying, but rather gives the territories the right to vote on it.
It will still have to undergo a vote in the Senate.
Federal member for Fisher, Andrew Wallace, whose constituency takes in much of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, was one of many MPs who spoke against the bill and in favour of the sanctity of life.
“Those of us who were in the chamber several years ago will remember when the marriage equality bill came up,” Mr Wallace told parliament.
“I made a commitment to the people in my electorate that I would support marriage equality based on the will of the Australian people, and I did. I honoured that commitment.
“But we’re talking about the lives of Australians.
“We’re talking about the sanctity of life, which is, in my view, absolutely more paramount than me being a federally elected member of parliament.
“My conscience does not permit me to vote for this bill. Some members will say that this bill doesn’t legalise euthanasia.
“I accept that this bill does not automatically mean that euthanasia in the territories will be legal. There would be a process that would have to be gone through in the territories’ legislatures. I accept that.
“But I don’t want to be one of those people that effectively authorise that to happen.”
Northern Territory backbencher, Luke Gosling, saw the matter differently, claim it was a bill purely about territory rights.
Representing the seat of Solomon, Mr Gosling told parliament that while personally opposed to euthanasia, he spoke on behalf of the “overwhelming majority” of people in the territories who want the “long overdue” territory rights legislation passed.
“For too long Australians living in the territories have been treated as second-class citizens when it comes to legislating on matters that impact their own lives,” he told parliament.
The NT MP issued an impassioned plea to his colleagues to consider it is not a federal responsibility to legislate on the matter and implored MPs to not consider it a “vote by proxy for or against voluntary assisted dying”.
“That is not our responsibility. That responsibility lies with the members of the NT and ACT legislative assemblies should they choose to draft legislation on this issue,” he said.
