LUKE GOSLING MP, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: Good morning everyone. And thanks for coming to our doorstop. We've just in the House of Representatives presented a bill to restore the rights of the territories, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In the late 90s, in the Northern Territory we legislated for euthanasia at that time. That was overridden by Kevin Andrews at the time. And in the quarter-of-a-century since then, all states of the Commonwealth have legislated for voluntary assisted dying. However, we remain unable in the territories to make our own legislation on this issue if the legislative assemblies decide to do that, because of the 1997 legislation. Very simply, what we have done today is put a private member's bill, myself and the Member for Canberra, Alicia Payne, to restore the rights of the territory, to restore self determination for the people living, people off the Northern Territory and the ACT, and for their elected representatives to make laws on issues that affect Territorians, as everyone in the States has, have had the ability to do. So it's a great honor to be here with Alicia, the Member for Canberra, and also my colleague, David Smith, the Member for Bean. And to also welcome ACTA Chief Minister Andrew Barr, because it is the Legislative Assembly that he, and Natasha Fyles in the Northern Territory, are the chief ministers of. It is for them on behalf of their constituencies, territorians to decide whether to make these laws as they have long been denied the right to do. Also great to welcome Tara Cheyne, the Minister for Human Rights in the ACT Legislative Assembly. And I'll hand over to the co-sponsor for our private member's bill today, Alicia Payne in just a minute. Territorians are not second class-citizens. And by moving this private member's bill today what we have said, the Labour members with David Pocock in the Senate, who is supportive of restoring the rights of territorians, is that we will no longer be considered second class citizens. Regardless of individual views on voluntary assisted dying, I believe that we have the support of federal parliamentarians because increasingly they understand that it is not an issue for them as federal parliamentarians to make decisions relating to the powers of the legislative assemblies. But it is their responsibility to ensure the territorians and the legislative assemblies in the territories have the same rights as other democratically elected Parliament's in our Commonwealth. It's a great day, it's a hopeful day for the territories. And I'm very proud to have moved the private member's bill today with Alicia Payne, the Member for Canberra. Thanks very much.

ALICIA PAYNE MP, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Thanks, everyone, for being here today. Yes, we've just come from the house where Luke moved our Private Member's Bill which I proudly seconded to restore territory rights to restore the rights of people in the Northern Territory and ACT to debate voluntary assisted dying. For 25 years Canberrans inside and outside of this place have advocated hard for us to be able to have the right to have that important discussion, as every other Australian jurisdiction can. In the 25 years since the Andrews Bill was passed by the Federal Parliament preventing territories from debating voluntary assisted dying. All other states have passed legislation in this regard. And it is well past time that we were able to have that important discussion within our jurisdiction. I've been very proud today to second this bill on behalf of my ACT Labor colleagues. David Smith, the Member for Bean, who I'll hand over to in a moment A Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh, who has moved such bills in the past and Senator Katie Gallagher, who has advocated on territory rights for over 20 years, including when she was Chief Minister of the ACT. There have been many attempts in this Parliament from people across the political spectrum to restore territory rights. And I am very hopeful that today will be the day that the federal parliament will restore these important rights to our citizens. I hope that this will be the time and I again appeal to members of parliament to please stand with Australian citizens living in the territories today to have the same rights, the same democratic rights to have a debate that every other Australian has. I'm really proud today that our ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, and Minister for Human Rights, Tara Cheyne joined us in the chamber for us moving bill. They have both campaigned really hard for the rights of their citizens and raising awareness of the fact that the Federal Parliament now has to grant us back these rights. I really hope that is this time that we come to the party, the Federal Parliament, and enable Canberrans and people in the Northern Territory to have these same rights. As I say it is well past time. I want to just say as well that this bill, it doesn't mean that we will have voluntary assisted dying automatically. It just means that we can have the debate and I really respect those in the federal parliament who may not support voluntary assisted dying, but support our right to have the debate, because surely all Australians should have the same democratic rights. I'm going to hand over to to David Smith first, but in handing over to the Chief Minister to speak, I'd hoped that this bill will enable the Federal Parliament to hand over those rights back to the ACT and hand over to our assembly colleagues to have that discussion.

DAVID SMITH MP, MEMBER FOR BEAN: Thanks. Alicia. Back in 1989, when I voted in my first election for the ACT Legislative Assembly, I was voting for an assembly where the Federal Parliament had already understood the territories deserve the right to vote on matters such such as this. Clyde Holding the then minister for the territories, it made it clear that the 270,000 Canberrans at that time, were no different to those who lived across the border in Queanbeyan, that's before Jerrabomberra. They had the right to discuss these matters. But this will be the third parliament that I'll be joining the debate, to speak in favor of restoring that right that I actually had as a 19-year-old expecting my community and my assembly to be able to make determinations to discuss matters such as voluntary assisted dying. So today is a really important day. I think, in the last parliament, we weren't actually even able to have a full debate. Andrew Leigh moved this in the Federation Chamber previously and was limited. This is our real opportunity to make right, what went wrong in the 90s. I'm really proud to be here with my colleagues, the Chief Minister for the ACT, Andrew Barr, and Tara Cheyne, the Minister for Human Rights, who've done so much to progress this debate. I'd like to introduce the Chief Minister for the ACT.

ANDREW BARR MLA, CHIEF MINISTER OF THE ACT: Thank you very much, David, and particularly thank both Luke and Alicia for moving this private member's bill today and acknowledge Tara Chyne, Minister for Human Rights. This is a significant day. It is a day we've encountered before. But this time it is different. There is much more optimism about the likely success of this private member's bill through both the House and the Senate. But we're not there yet. And our fate and the democratic rights of territorians sits in the hands of members and senators who represent the six states and territories. I'm confident, that with the election results, that all ACT house and Senators would support the bill. And one would hope that our Northern Territory lower house, certainly in the lower house, and that both Northern Territory senators would also support this legislation. So it now sits with with Members and Senators who represented the six Australian states, six states that have all considered this issue and with constitutional power that the states have they have this ability. But all considered the issue and have all resolved a way forward. And those same rights and opportunities should be extended to nearly three-quarters-of-a-million Australians who reside in the territories. It's a simple proposition. It's one that we have been putting for a number of years. We haven't been successful to date, but today, I think does represent a way forward. From the ACT Legislative Assembly's perspective, were we to be granted this democratic right, we would pursue the matter in a sensible and measured way. And then to be clear that there will be a thorough process within the ACT Legislative Assembly. Tara Cheyne would take lead of the matter within the territory government. But we would have a process that would run for a number of years, it would not be a quick or straightforward process, we would have six pieces of legislation across the other Australian states to work from, to put in place best practice laws. There would then be a conscience vote within the ACT Legislative Assembly. So all of those fine democratic traditions of robust Australian parliamentary debates would occur in the ACT Legislative Assembly and uncertain in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, just as they have in the six states. This is fundamentally about equality, and ensuring that no matter where you live in Australia, you have the same democratic rights. I'll invite Minister Cheyne to provide a few remarks, and then we'll take questions. Thank you.

TARA CHEYNE MLA, ACT MINISTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Thanks very much. And can I just echo all of my colleagues and what a momentous day today is? And hopefully, as we come to a vote, there are more momentous days ahead of us. Can I echo what Alicia Payne has stressed so thoroughly, in her speech this morning: that we are asking both Members and Senators to really listen to what we're asking for here. That this is a matter of democratic rights, that we simply are asking to be treated the same as citizens in the states. That we do not want to be discriminated any longer than we have over the past 25 years. That we have been simply hamstrung. We've been banned from having a debate. That means so much to the territorians of the ACT and the Northern Territory. And I would urge members and senators to simply ask themselves, if this was a matter for their state, how would they be feeling? Would they be denying their state and the citizens of their states, the same rights that we are currently being denied in the ACT and in the Northern Territory? I strongly think that would not be the case and I urge them to really listen, to really make sure that this is about human rights, our democratic rights, the rights of all territorians to participate strongly in the democratic process. As the Chief Minister said, this is not a process that will be rushed through or rammed through in the ACT Legislative Assembly. We have begun to look at the other jurisdictions that have passed legislation, and that provides us a very good base from which to begin to have that conversation with the people of the ACT. But this is something that will be a conversation, it will be a long conversation, it will be one where we're looking to achieve consensus. But it's something we're looking forward to. But first, we absolutely need our rights to be restored.

JOURNALIST: Question for Luke, Dave and, Alicia. We know the last time this came for a vote in the Senate in the Leyonhjelm Bill in 2018, there was seven Labor senators who voted against it. Given it's a conscience vote there's a possibility that it could in fact, be Labor senators who sink this. What is your message to your colleagues specifically about this bill and how disappointing would it be if it was to be people on your own side that were, together with the Coalition potentially, and other cross-benchers, be the ones that made sure this doesn't get over the line?

GOSLING: It would obviously be very disappointing if this private member's bill was not to pass the parliament. Having said that, I have a deep respect for the wishes, the thinking and the fact that this is a conscience vote. So we will in the next period before it comes to a vote in the Senate, continue to be available and to speak with all the senators around this issue. So that hopefully they arrive at the same conclusion that we have, even someone like me with reservations around voluntary assisted dying. That is not what is at stake here. They are issues for the legislative assemblies to consult on, to debate and to decide. I will continue to speak with all the senators. And I've spoken with and written to the Country Liberal Party Senator for the Northern Territory, Jacinta Price. And I'll continue to make myself available to make that point, territorians demand that they are represented in this place by people who will not stand for us being treated as second class citizens. And I hope that Labor senators will join us, but at the same time, absolutely defend their right to consult their conscience and to weighing up of their responsibilities in this place, as federal legislators, as opposed to legislators in the territories of the Commonwealth.

JOURNALIST: Do you believe that there is more support within the parliament now, given that since the Leyonhjelm Bill was introduced, several states have moved on voluntary assisted dying. Do you think that this is the catalyst for many MPs who some may have even voted no last time, that they considering maybe the issues changed, it's moved along before the other states have kind of set that precedent?

GOSLING: As I mentioned in my speech, introducing the bill, I understand that in 1996, for a lot of Australians being the first to legislate on voluntary assisted dying in the Northern Territory. That there was a feeling that perhaps this was too soon. I understand that and I respect that. I think the fact that all states in the Commonwealth have now consulted, debated and legislated on these issues, will have an effect on our colleagues, because they will see that there's a large body of work that's been done that the legislative assemblies will be able to draw on and overseas experiences in order to come up with world's best practice. Should the legislative assemblies decide to debate and obviously, in the ACT, the Chief Minister is right, is that we have mature Assemblies, representing the interests of territorians. And it will be done in a sensible way, in a respectful way, because these are issues to do with end of life. And I think that increasingly, Senators and Members of the House of Representatives do understand that these sensitive issues can be handled properly by the legislative assemblies, and I'm confident that they'll vote in that way.

JOURNALIST: Luke, as a Northern Territory MP, you mentioned Jacinta Price, but also some, I guess, sort of conservative lobby groups , your colleagues, Senator Pat Dodson has previously expressed some concern about what would happen, I guess, around the expansion of euthanasia access, for instance, what effect that might have on indigenous communities reaching out and attending medical facilities, getting medical care. Pat Dodson's [inaudible]. As a Northern Territory MP, would you have similar concerns about that sort of thing, about whether it would discourage people in certain communities attending medical care?

GOSLING: There's no doubt that when this has been discussed in the past, there have been deep reservations held by some of our First Nations communities, including in the Northern Territory. But I know that having just come from Garma, with Pat Dodson. Pat has three Northern Territory, indigenous colleagues, to consult with. Jacinta Price being one from the country Liberal Party, but also our own Marian Scrymgour and Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. So I believe that in these discussions, in these consultations, there will be the sensitivity and the awareness of these issues and how they affect First Nations communities. And with that powerhouse of First Nations federal representatives, I'm sure that there's ample assistance for both legislative assemblies, as they think about these very important issues.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned you'd written to Jacinta Price and the Chief Minister mentioned the importance of getting all of the territory senators on board. Why is it important that Jacinta Price is supportive? She is just vote, what's the importance of having all of the territory senators on board?

GOSLING: I think it would be fantastic if we had all territory senators and members of the House of Representatives united on this issue, and I believe there is an opportunity for that. But I also will not and would never speak for another federal representative. As I said, I've made myself available for discussions, as I'm sure my other colleagues will, you know, in a full appreciation of this matter, and I look forward to making myself available right up until the vote in the Senate, which obviously is crucial to getting this legislation through and restoring the rights of all territorians. And that's what we do when we're elected to this place. You represent all of the constituency that has elected you. And I'm sure that all federal members from the territories take that very seriously, and will take that into their consideration. Thank you, Alicia.

PAYNE: I'll just add to that, so all representatives of the ACT in the Federal Parliament clearly support this, all the Labor representatives and Senator David Pocock, and all of the Labor representatives in the Northern Territory. So for those other members of parliament across the board, this is really about something that doesn't fit their constituents. It is affects our constituents. And the matter of voluntary assisted dying is a matter for territory parliaments to decide. So we are really appealing to them, saying this is something for our constituents who are at the moment are second class citizens. Who don't have the same rights to have this debate, which is not about an individual's views on voluntary assisted dying. It's about giving rights to Australians that don't have those democratic rights right now. And all, with perhaps with the exception of Jacinta Price, all representatives of territories are very much in support of this. We hope that she was supportive as well. But this is about asking those who don't represent territories, who perhaps may not have thought much about this before, to support this for us because for us this is personal and it's urgent.

GOSLING: Thanks very much