Last night I welcomed the news that Tasmania has legalised voluntary assisted dying. However, it is another stark reminder that the ACT and Northern Territory cannot even debate legalising voluntary assisted dying in our parliaments.
With the news last night, now half of the Australian states have legalised voluntary assisted dying.
Debate has begun in the South Australian parliament, with Queensland due next. And a Bill will be introduced in the New South Wales parliament in the coming months.
ACT and NT residents deserve the same chance as citizens in the states to have our say on this important issue, too. But federal legislation continues to ban our parliaments from doing so.
The ACT Government urges the Federal Government to restore our Territory rights – and end this needless, senseless treatment of citizens within its own country as second-class.
All it would take is a simple legislative change that costs nothing – but would mean so much.
