Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We in the territories have been fighting to restore our rights for a long time. For a quarter of a century, we've been barred from fully enjoying the same democratic rights as Australians living in the states. It's ridiculous that we're still forced to explain why people living in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are worthy of having rights equal to those of other Australians, yet here we are.

It was in 1997 that Kevin Andrews, the member for Menzies, decided to stop the NT and the ACT from legislating on euthanasia, and there's still quite a bit of anger today in the Territory about the passing of that Andrews bill. This recent front page from the NT News says it all: 'Give us back our rights'. The Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction in the world to legislate for euthanasia. For nine months, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was law, during which time four people chose to die with medical assistance. Honourable members may remember a movie called Last Cab to Darwin that explained what was happening at that time. The member for Menzies was successfully in inserting a clause into the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 to prevent the NT from making laws in respect of euthanasia. The vast majority of Territorians would like to see that clause overturned. There are almost three-quarters of a million people living across our two territories—three-quarters of a million who have been told for 24 years that they don't get to participate in the same kind of democracy as all other Australians.

So why is this coalition government, those opposite, so afraid to let Australians in the territories have their say on the issue? This isn't about right to die legislation; it's about equal rights for our citizens. Overturning the Andrews bill doesn't mean that the NT or the ACT will be forced into legislating on euthanasia; all it means is that the elected representatives of the territories may choose to consider the matter, taking on board the arguments and feelings for and against the issue by their constituents. For the past 20 years, about four in five Australians have supported doctor-led voluntary assisted dying. The public mood has shifted to the point where it is now being legalised in Victoria and WA; it was rejected by New South Wales and SA and is being considered by Queensland and Tasmania. This is exactly as it should be. Australians should be able to reflect on this matter and decide if they support it or not.

Three years ago, my colleague and friend Andrew Leigh, the member for Fenner, and I brought forward a bill to restore the rights of the territories. We were seeking to restore the democratic rights of citizens in the territories by removing a constraint on the legislative authority of their elected representatives which does not exist anywhere else in Australia. I want to put on the record my thanks to all the elected members, at least on our side, who supported that movement for this change. However, the government blocked debate on that bill. They did the same thing in the previous term.

Senators in this place have been debating and voting on related legislation, but those of us on this side of the building in the House of Representatives have been prevented from expressing our views. Australians deserve a government that will consider such matters in a mature and considered way, no matter where they live. Those opposite must explain to all Australians and to territorians in particular why they are viewed as second-class citizens in our nation. As long as the Andrews bill remains in force, the government is explicitly telling territorians, whether it is here in the ACT or in our Northern Territory, that they are less than the rest. This government is telling territorians that their rights are not important. This government is telling all Australians that discrimination of this sort against certain groups of its own citizens is acceptable. I don't think that will stand up in the court of public opinion. The government must immediately commit to overturning the Andrews bill and must send a clear message to territorians that it hears their concerns and values them equally to all other Australian citizens.

Debate adjourned.

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