Assisted dying clause gagging doctors set to be debated

Heated parliamentary debate is expected as a voluntary assisted dying bill is tabled in the only jurisdiction yet to legalise the end-of-life choice.

A proposed gag on doctors raising voluntary assisted dying with patients is a safeguard against terminally ill people being coerced into ending their lives, a territory’s chief legal officer says.

Northern Territory Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby introduced the Rights of the Terminally Ill bill to parliament for a second reading on Tuesday.

It is expected to pass on a conscience vote on Thursday but heated debate is expected on two controversial clauses.

Under the bill only people with 12 months or less to live would have access to assisted dying.

But there is opposition to that 12‑month prognosis rule and a so‑called gag clause that stops doctors from raising voluntary assisted dying with patients.

The NT is the only Australian jurisdiction yet to legalise the end-of-life choice for the terminally ill.

The territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to make voluntary euthanasia legal in 1995, but the laws were overturned in 1997 by the federal government under John Howard.

All six states and the ACT have since passed their own laws allowing it.

The federal veto was only lifted in 2022, restoring the NT’s right to make its own assisted dying laws.

Ms Boothby told parliament the bill was focused on ensuring patients were in charge, extending end-of-life rights to them with robust protections in place.

“It’s older territorians who face the greatest risk of coercion … real and present risks that our laws aim to mitigate,” she said.

“It makes sense that they should initiate the conversation, not their family, not their doctor, not any other representative.

“A person should never feel pressured from their loved ones or representatives, no matter how well-meaning.”

If medical practitioners were able to raise assisted dying with patients it opened the door to possible coercion, Ms Boothby said.

She defended the 12-month prognosis time frame, saying it gave time for patients to settle their affairs.

Queensland and Victoria had 12-month time frames and other states and territories had six months, the attorney-general noted.

The bill contained strong conscientious objection provisions, recognising the rights of health practitioners and providers who held differing ethical, religious, cultural, and personal views on end-of-life issues, she said.

NT Health would have 18 months to introduce the program and a three-year review would be carried out.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she was proud her Country Liberal Party government was bringing back end-of-life rights to territorians after a “heavy-handed” federal government “squashed those rights” in 1997.

NT Opposition Leader Selina Uibo said Labor would vote to remove the doctor gagging clause and the 12-month prognosis requirement, allowing territorians to end their suffering in a time frame of their choosing.

Shadow attorney-general Chansey Paech said he was conflicted over the bill and would abstain from voting.

But he called for authorities to allow for terminally ill First Nations people to die on Country among their people.