A voluntary assisted dying (VAD) bill has finally been re- introduced to Northern Territory (NT) parliament, after years of campaigning. But the Country Liberal Party (CLP) is intent on making it unnecessarily restrictive.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and Attorney General Marie-Clare Boothby said on July 22 that the majority of Country Liberal Party (CLP) members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) would support the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2026 — “without the need for cross bench or opposition support”.
As foreshadowed, the CLP’s bill includes a prognostic time frame of 12 month, or less, until death, and a GP gag clause. These criteria will restrict access to the process, go against national trends and even counters the CLP’s own committee recommendations.
Former NT Chief Minister Marshall Perron, architect of the original voluntary assisted dying bill in 1995, criticised the government’s approach on July 23.
“If the Bill is passed without amendment and remains in its current form, its title should be changed because it is misleading,” Perron said. “The Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (1995), passed 31 years ago, provided broader access than this legislation does.
“By imposing a 12-month prognostic time frame, the Bill excludes terminally-ill patients suffering from debilitating diseases that may endure for years, but [which] are not expected to cause death within that arbitrary [12 month] period.”
The new ACT law removed the time frame, because it lacked clinical value, and replaced it the framework of the person with “an advanced progressive condition” and who is “approaching end of life”.
The gag clause has been shown to be unnecessarily obstructive to both applicants and clinicians, Perron said. “This discredited provision, first introduced in Victoria, has been widely criticised and is now being removed [from Victorian VAD law] following a review.”
There is broad support, including from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, to remove the gag clause.
Perron said Finocchiaro is also undermining the parliamentary conscience vote by declaring that the CLP has the numbers to pass the bill. “[This] effectively dictates the outcome of what is supposed to be an independent parliamentary process … By reaching agreements behind closed doors and signalling that no amendments will be entertained, the CLP has effectively curtailed genuine parliamentary debate.”
Perron hopes all MLAs, particularly CLP members, will reflect on the fact that the overwhelming majority of people support a VAD framework that reflects the latest medical evidence and experience from other states and territories.
Independent Member for Johnston Justine Davis is considering amendments in consultation with her constituents, campaigners and advocacy organisations.
The Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2026 will be debated in late August.
[Suzanne James is an advocate for voluntary assisted dying.]