Northern Territory Opposition hands government draft legislation for a Voluntary Assisted Dying bill and says it hasn't seen proposed changes to Anti-Discrimination laws

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Northern Territory Opposition Leader Selena Uibo says she's handed the government her own draft legislation for a Voluntary Assisted Dying bill and said any changes will need to be made by the end of this year before she tables a private members bill. Also ahead of parliamentary sittings the opposition says it's not seen proposed changes to Anti-Discrimination laws, which the government is expected to re-introduce this week.

Transcript

00:00The Labor opposition handing over its draft of long-awaited voluntary assisted dying laws.

00:08This is a guiding framework for Territorians to have their say.

00:12I have now sent it to the CLP government to save time because Territorians want to see this bill in the parliament now.

00:21After receiving parliamentary advice that VAD laws should go ahead,

00:25the government said it would formally debate the issue in 2026.

00:29My intention as the Attorney-General is to have the work done in the background by the department,

00:34to have that legislation ready to put forward to the parliament by sometime early next year,

00:39so the first part of next year.

00:41But that's not soon enough for the Labor leader who's given the government until the end of this year

00:45to work on her draft before introducing her own private member's bill.

00:50And the government is expected to bring back into parliament this week amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act

00:56after religious groups pushed for a rewrite to allow their schools to better police what their staff say in public.

01:03It's really concerning when a school starts to look into public statements,

01:09especially statements that are made in the private lives of people who are working in schools,

01:14because that is really their constitutional right.

01:16The government hasn't said whether it will accept the demands of the religious lobby,

01:21with the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner urging it to resist.

01:24The bill in itself is based on the beneficial legislation principle,

01:29which is a principle to protect vulnerable and marginalised groups.

01:34In this context, who are we protecting?

01:37Treading the line between religious beliefs and personal freedom.

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