Voluntary euthanasia could be on the cards with Territory rights restored

A staunch advocate for voluntary euthanasia whose husband was the first man in Australia to die under the laws says Territory rights will give people a choice.

Judy Dent's husband Bob Dent became the first person to legally die by euthanasia. He died on September 22, 1996. 26 years later and Judy is continuing the fight to once again have voluntary euthanasia legalised in the Northern Territory. Picture: Che Chorley

The widow of the first person in the world to use voluntary euthanasia laws to end his own life has called on the Northern Territory Government to reinstate the legislation.

Judy Dent said she was relieved the Territory Rights Bill had passed the Senate but it was now up to the NT government to do what was right and retore the rights of the terminally ill.

“It’s the end of the first battle, now the second one begins,” she said.

Robert ‘Bob’ Dent was the first person to die under voluntary euthanasia before former Liberal MP Kevin Andrews – supported by Labor’s Tony Burke - led the push to overturn the NT’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.

“As soon as he got all the necessary pieces of paper signed, it was as if a weight had been lifted off his back,” she said.

“He said ‘now I am in control again’.

“And that helps.

“It has such a palliative effect, worked better than any of the medication.”

Bob Dent was the first person to die under voluntary euthanasia. Picture: Judy Dent

Ms Dent said she planned to give the NT government “a little while” before her next push.

“The Attorney-General said he wanted to modernise the legislation so presumably at some stage legislation will be proposed,” she said.

“I’m waiting to see what that means.”

Robert (Bob) Dent died under euthanasia after prostate cancer spread to his bones. Picture: Archives

Ms Dent said her efforts and advocacy to legislate voluntary assisted dying were relentless.

“I’m not getting any younger and I don’t know how much longer I can keep fighting this thing,” she said.

“But I’m not going to stop.

“At least we can now concentrate on our local members instead of having to worry about what the higher-uppers in Canberra were going to do to us.”

Federal parliament restored Territory rights on Thursday night but Ms Dent said it was only the end of the first battle.

“Until it happens to the politicians, they don’t really understand,” she said.

“I noticed when they were discussing this current bill … that a number of the speakers said that they had changed their mind about VAD after going through it with their family.

“Not that their family actually used it, but just knowing it was there, made such a difference. “And we’d like that difference too.”

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