Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022. At the heart of this legislation is the right of those Australians who live in the territories to decide, through their elected representatives, whether to enact laws with respect to voluntary assisted dying, or euthanasia. I can't see any good reason why they should not have that right. Every state in Australia has passed legislation with respect to voluntary assisted dying. It seems absurd that Australian citizens just a stone's throw away over the border in New South Wales can debate and enact such laws, which they have chosen to do, but here in the ACT that right is denied to their fellow Australian citizens. If this bill is passed, this legislative anomaly will be corrected and the territories will have this right.

For over a decade, I've been a strong supporter of the right of citizens, in certain circumstances, to choose to end their lives with dignity and at a time of their own choosing, with appropriate safeguards in place. It was in 2010 that I first really considered this issue in earnest. Towards the end of that year, I was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma. Back in those days, there was very little in the way of postoperative treatment available. After the operation that I went through, I was told that the chances of the cancer coming back were fifty-fifty and that, if it did so, there would not be very much that could be done. Fifty-fifty is a toss of the coin. I still remember where I was and what I was doing when I got that diagnosis.

I can tell you: when you get news like that, it really focuses your mind. The first question you ask yourself is what will happen to your family and what life will be like for your children without you there to help raise them. Another question I asked myself during that time was what the end might look like and whether I would want the ability to choose the time and place of my passing. I decided without doubt that I would like that ability. I may or may not decide to act on it, but I would like to be able to make that choice. Fortunately for me, I have so far ended up on the right side of the ledger. I've had excellent care through Professor John Thompson at Melanoma Institute Australia and participated in a drug trial there for several years. I should add that Professor Thompson and his fellow cancer researchers are unsung heroes of our nation.

While I appreciate that there are a wide range of opinions on this issue, my strong view remains that every Australian should have the right to choose the time of their own death in certain controlled circumstances. The New South Wales parliament only recently passed its laws with respect to voluntary assisted dying, and, as I have said, every state in Australia has done so. Both the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory self-government acts provide that their legislative assemblies have the power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of each respective territory. It's not only incongruous but illogical that there should be an exclusion with respect to the issue of voluntary assisted dying. The legislative assemblies of the ACT and the Northern Territory have clearly demonstrated that they are capable of responsively debating, formulating and implementing policies with respect to this issue. Statehood need not be and clearly should not be a precondition for that to occur. I support this bill and, in so doing, the rights of our fellow Australians in the ACT and the Northern Territory to have the same freedom to legislate on this issue that other Australians possess. I commend this bill to the House.

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