00:00An announcement that could signal the beginning of the end.
00:05We will bring forward this legislation in the middle of this year
00:08for it to be debated in the parliament as a full conscious vote by all members.
00:14The government's bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying will come 31 years
00:18after the practice was introduced under former Chief Minister Marshall Perrin,
00:22a move later overruled and reversed by the federal government.
00:26This time around there's been two rounds of consultation
00:29by an independent panel in 2024 and a government committee last year.
00:33Both visited a number of communities to discuss the topic.
00:37I think probably the standout takeaway was that there is broad brush support
00:41for the idea of voluntary assisted dying legislation in the Northern Territory.
00:45It's not for everyone, but most people don't object to the idea of it being available for others.
00:51Despite the several consultations, there are still questions around what a VAD bill will look like.
00:56For one, most Australian jurisdictions require someone wanting to access VAD
01:00to first have a six to twelve month end of life prognosis,
01:04a timeframe that both the committee and the former Chief Minister once scrapped for the Territory.
01:09The ACT was the first jurisdiction to pass legislation with no timeframe to the end of life,
01:15and that makes the ACT legislation the best in Australia.
01:19And one would think that the Northern Territory would learn from the last jurisdiction that passed VAD laws,
01:24that is the ACT, and look closely as to why they did what they did.
01:28With the bill set to go to a conscience vote, it will need to garner enough support from the government,
01:32opposition and crossbench to pass into law.
01:35The Attorney-General among those in the government to vocalise their support.
01:39I will be supporting the bill when it comes to Parliament.
01:42I've definitely spoken to my community enough to make that decision.
01:45But like I said, it will be a conscious vote for all members of Parliament.
01:49A piece of Territory history repeated.
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