NT, SA euthanasia advocates unite to renew calls for voluntary assisted dying to be legalised in the Territory
TWO advocates for voluntary euthanasia have united to renew a call for the federal government to release their grip on euthanasia laws and allow the NT and ACT residents to make their own decision on the matter.
Northern Territory
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TWO advocates for voluntary euthanasia have united to renew a call for the federal government to release their grip on euthanasia laws and allow the NT and ACT residents to make their own decision on the matter.
Northern suburbs resident Judy Dent and South Australian advocate Angie Miller met for the first time recently to discuss the euthanasia laws in both jurisdictions.
Ms Miller witnessed her father die in pain as cancer spread throughout his body.
She said he had asked multiple times to end his life but was told by heath professionals that they could not help him.
He eventually died as a result of a blood clot.
“It got to the point where my dad couldn’t orally take medication anymore, so they put him on the morphine pump, and slowly he was euthanised. And it was just all very unnecessary suffering … it was awful,” she said.
“I can’t believe that other humans, allow that to happen to other humans.”
After his death she began campaigning to change the law first in WA where voluntary assisted dying is now legal and most recently in South Australia where a Bill has been introduced to parliament.
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Euthanasia Bills have been introduced to the SA parliament on more than a dozen occasions with Ms Miller saying advocates down south felt the same pain as Territorians.
Ms Dent is the widow of Bob Dent, one of only four people to be granted the right to die by euthanasia during the fleeting time the NT had a law allowing it in 1996.
In 1997, the federal government took away the right for Territorians to die by euthanasia.
Since then Ms Dent has been a staunch advocate for reversing the law thereby giving others suffering the choice.
“You can live with anything if you think you’re going to get better at the end, but if you know that there’s no way you can get better why should you go on suffering,” she said.
An NT government spokeswoman said the government would continue to advocate for its right to choose whether euthanasia is legal in the Territory.
“It should be up to Territorians to have a say about issues that affect their lives – not Canberra politicians,” the spokeswoman said.
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A spokesman for the Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter said the government’s stance on euthanasia had not changed.
“There are no plans to introduce legislation to repeal the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997,” the spokesman said.
Originally published as NT, SA euthanasia advocates unite to renew calls for voluntary assisted dying to be legalised in the Territory
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