NT community ask questions surrounding laws on voluntary assisted dying

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Thirty years ago today the Northern Territory became the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying but the law was soon overriden by the Federal Parliament. Now the NT is the only place in Australia where voluntary assisted dying is illegal and some members of community are asking questions about why the matter has stalled.

Transcript

00:00Megan Pickering is not terminally ill.

00:05But due to an autoimmune disease that stops her breathing,

00:08she knows what it's like to be on death's door.

00:11I'm fully conscious when this happens.

00:13I can hear the machines beeping.

00:16I can hear people's concerns.

00:18I can feel the lack of oxygen giving me a sort of brain fog feeling.

00:24And there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.

00:27This experience, and also watching her stepfather die slowly

00:31without access to voluntary assisted dying,

00:33has made her a fierce advocate for the practice.

00:36I would hate to think of my life ending in that way

00:40where I had no control and difficulty breathing

00:44and couldn't communicate because it's a horrible position to be put into.

00:49Now, the NT is the only Australian jurisdiction

00:52where the practice hasn't been legislated.

00:55In 2025, the debate around voluntary assisted dying

00:58looks somewhat different to how it did in the 1990s.

01:01The Australian Medical Association, one of the primary opponents

01:04of the bill in 1995, has since changed its tune on the matter.

01:08Religious opposition to the practice, meanwhile, has remained steadfast.

01:12That value in itself to me is not an ethical way to go.

01:16Others who have a contrary opinion, I am not going to start condemning them,

01:21but I disagree with them, and for good reasons.

01:24Dr Devaki Monani sat on the expert advisory panel

01:28tasked with consulting communities about the practice less than two years ago.

01:32People came up to me after the session and said,

01:34look, I'm Christian, and VAD is at crossroads with my personal beliefs.

01:39And as a Christian, I wouldn't want myself or my family members to be accessing VAD.

01:44And I guess that was really the elephant in the room.

01:48More recently, a motion brought by independent politician Justine Davis

01:52prompted the government to refer the matter to a parliamentary committee.

01:56That committee will now spend until the end of September

01:59going out and consulting with Territorians,

02:02but in particular in those regional and remote areas.

02:05But some advocates fear there's a lack of commitment from the current government.

02:09Overwhelming numbers of Australians and Northern Territorians

02:12have shown support for the development of this legislation.

02:15And I think that it's time that the government of the Northern Territory

02:19listen to what the people want.

02:21A nervous wait on a matter of life and death.

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