Cunningham: CLP orders inquiry into VAD inquiry as 30 years of can-kicking continues

If members of the CLP oppose VAD they should say so. They are entitled to their opinion, but to use Aboriginal people as an excuse to delay action smacks of hypocrisy, writes Matt Cunningham.

Darwin man Gavin Perry wants Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) to be an option in the Northern Territory, as he undergoes treatment for a rare form of eye cancer. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Consultation hasn’t been the Finocchiaro Government’s strong suit.

It did little consultation on its changes to bail and justice laws and was forced into some token consultation on its Territory Co-ordinator legislation.

There’s nothing wrong with this.

It did widespread consultation with the Territory public during the most important survey of them all - the election - so the only people who could have been surprised by these moves were the ones who weren’t paying attention.

In many ways official consultation processes in the Territory are simply an opportunity for opponents to put on the record a state-sanctioned whinge.

With a unicameral parliament and the numbers stacked well in the government’s favour a consultation process rarely changes the outcome of a proposed piece of legislation.

So it was something of a surprise last week when we learned the government was going to undertake another round of extensive consultation on the issue of voluntary assisted dying (VAD).

This is an issue that has been inquired into and consulted on possibly more than any other in Territory history.

Gavin Perry spoke to NT News reporter Fia Walsh about his support for VAD as he battles a rare eye cancer. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Its 30 years since the Northern Territory Parliament, led by then CLP Chief Minister Marshall Perron, passed the world’s first laws legalising euthanasia.

It was a very Territorian thing to do, symbolic of a place where people believed in the right to make their own decisions about matters that affected their lives.

But Canberra wouldn’t have it that way.

In 1997 the federal parliament introduced the Euthanasia Laws Act.

This not only cancelled out the NT’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, but it prevented the NT and the ACT from again passing legislation on voluntary assisted dying.

For the next 25 years this was a sore point for Territorians.

It was symbolic of Canberra’s overreach; of its distrust in the NT to manage its own affairs. It was a law that genuinely made us second-class citizens.

But in December 2022, after a push that enjoyed widespread support from both sides of politics, the federal parliament passed the Restoring Territory Rights Act.

Northern Territory Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby called an inquiry into the inquiry - make that make sense. Picture: Fia Walsh.

The problem for the Northern Territory, is that despite having our rights restored, we’ve failed to do anything about it.

The Restoring Territory Rights Act didn’t reinstate the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.

It simply removed the ban on the territories legislating on euthanasia.

This meant the NT and ACT would still need to draft new bills and have them pass the parliament before euthanasia could be legalised.

The ACT managed to do this in June last year.

But in the NT, the dithering continues. After becoming the first jurisdiction in the world to legalise euthanasia, we are now the only place in the country without access to voluntary assisted dying.

The former Labor government began this can-kicking exercise.

Having already ostracised most people of faith with its anti-discrimination laws, Labor sent voluntary euthanasia out for consultation, ordering a report into the issue that wasn’t completed until July last year, too close to an election for the government to take any action.

Last week, Independent MLA Justine Davis brought a motion calling on the parliament to adopt the report’s recommendations and to recognise the rights to Territorians to end their lives on their own terms.

Independent Johnston MLA Justine Davis called for the government to adopt the report’s recommendations immediately. Picture: Fia Walsh.

But rather than take action, Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby instead asked the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to undertake an inquiry into the report.

You read that right.

We now have an inquiry into an inquiry on an issue we’ve been inquiring on for 30 years.

So much for the year of action.

For some reason a place that once prided itself on right to people’s personal freedom and liberty, keeps tying itself in knots on an issue that has overwhelming public support.

Perhaps the most galling part of the CLP’s delay tactic is its argument it wants to undertake more consultation with Aboriginal Territorians.

This is the party that was stridently opposed to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and a government that has shown little interest in consulting Aboriginal Territorians on any other issue since coming to power last August.

If members of the CLP government oppose voluntary assisted dying they should come out and say so. They are all entitled to their opinion. But to use Aboriginal people as an excuse to delay action on this issue smacks of hypocrisy.

Originally published as Cunningham: CLP orders inquiry into VAD inquiry as 30 years of can-kicking continues