The Northern Territory has taken a step towards legalising Voluntary Assisted Dying, with the release of Parliamentary Committee instructions for the drafting of VAD legislation. The laws, which would allow people with terminal illnesses to choose when they die are now destined for parliamentary debate, with advocates gearing up for a fight.
00:00A call to action for the rights of the terminally ill.
00:05Today, a government-led parliamentary committee recommended voluntary assisted dying laws be redrafted 28 years after the NT's world first VAD laws were blocked by the then Howard government.
00:18And with another vote coming up, politicians should expect their inboxes to quickly fill.
00:23I certainly will be emailing my local member and I may write as well.
00:30I will be going to my local member and asking where she stands on this.
00:35I want to know whether she's worth voting for again.
00:40Tasked with seeking perspectives on voluntary assisted dying beyond the Territory's urban centres,
00:45the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee says it received nuanced and varied responses from Aboriginal people on the issue.
00:53If Munangar want to do that, then that is their choice.
00:55But we Aboriginal people, we have the belief that we should finish on our own.
01:00Like even if we are suffering and in so much pain, this is part of life for us.
01:05A panel member of a separate voluntary assisted dying inquiry commissioned by the previous government says she's pleased to see their findings vindicated.
01:14I was insulted for my other panel members when a minister said, oh, you only went up and down the track.
01:22You didn't consult properly and the majority of Territoryians don't want it.
01:26That's not what we found out at all.
01:29The latest inquiry recommends the NT join the ACT to become the only Australian jurisdictions with no time limit for access.
01:36The requirement for doctors to predict with some sort of accuracy that someone is within six or 12 months to the end of life is an extremely hard ask.
01:46It's hard because death isn't a predictable pattern.
01:50The government says it will progress the drafting of legislation, which is expected to be decided by a conscience vote,
01:57with government backbencher Laurie Zio today one of the first in the government to publicly declare their support.
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