Govt confirms NT VAD debate
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says the long-awaited NT VAD bill will be tabled in parliament during the July–August sittings.
Ms Finocchiaro announced at a Council of the Ageing (COTA NT) Seniors Expo in Darwin that the bill would be introduced July 21-23 and debated August 25-27.
The government had previously said the Bill would be tabled in parliament “mid-year”.
This is a long-awaited development for Territorians; the NT was the first in the country (and the world) to have a law for voluntary euthanasia in 1995, before it was overturned by the federal parliament. It is now the only Australian jurisdiction without VAD legislation.
Two inquiries have recommended the introduction of a VAD law in the NT -- an Expert Panel set up by the previous Labor government and the current government’s own Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
NT attorney-general Clare Boothby accepted most of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s recommendations but has said that two widely discredited safeguards would be part of the Bill.
They are a prognosis time frame to death and a “gag clause”, which prevents health professionals from raising VAD as a legal end-of-life choice unless requested first by the patient.
Doctors have warned against “gag clauses” arguing they are unprecedented in health care and an unwarranted infringement on communication between health practitioners and their patients.
If you live in the Northern Territory and want to make your voice heard visit our VAD in the NT web page.