Vote for territory rights this Saturday

Mr Morrison and Senator Zeselja have made it clear that if you live in one of the six states you are entitled to have a state government with wide-ranging powers to legislate on almost every aspect of peoples' lives (with such obvious exceptions as foreign affairs and national security).

If, on the other hand, you live in either the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory, your Legislative Assembly is subject to the whims of the federal government of the day. Northern Territorians arguably had more rights when they were a part of South Australia from 1863 to 1910 than they do today.

Proof of this is the action taken by the Howard government to overturn the Northern Territory's euthanasia bill in the mid-1990s and the decision by the Abbott government to overturn the ACT's same-sex marriage legislation within 100 days of taking office in 2013.

While the so-called Andrews Bill put paid to the Northern Territory's progressive legislation, the Abbott government relied on the High Court to quash the ACT's historic same-sex marriage laws.

In both cases the movers and supporters of the original pieces of legislation have been vindicated. Following a national plebiscite, same-sex marriage has now been legislated at the federal level. That was over the objections of Senator Seselja, who chose not to support it in Parliament despite Canberra delivering the strongest "yes" vote of any jurisdiction.

The tide has also turned on euthanasia or, as such legislation is now more commonly referred to, voluntary assisted dying.

As of Thursday all six states have passed voluntary assisted dying laws, with NSW, the last hold-out, legalising VAD for adults with a terminal illness, up to six months to live, and the approval of two independent doctors.

Once this takes effect in about 18 months' time, Canberrans will be in the curious situation of living and working cheek-by-jowl with people who have significantly more end-of-life choices than they do.

Your postcode will determine your fate. People who live in Jerrabomberra, Murrumbateman, Queanbeyan or Googong will have the option of choosing to die with dignity at a time and a place of their own choosing. Those who live in Canberra's suburbs will not.

And, given the decision by a succession of federal governments on both sides of the divide to refuse to countenance any form of national legislation, that is not about to change.

This sums up the Morrison government's indifference to the rights and welfare of ACT residents and Northern Territorians in a nutshell. On the one hand, they won't give people the right to determine their own destinies. On the other, they can't be bothered to enact national legislation that would address an obvious inequity.

One reason Malcolm Turnbull was able to call the same-sex marriage plebiscite was because Tony Abbott's use of the High Court to overturn the ACT laws affected states' rights as well. That's not the case on VAD. With fewer than 700,000 people unable to access VAD either now or in the near future, there is no appetite for a plebiscite or national laws.

As far as the Coalition is concerned the rights of territorians literally don't count.

While they can get away with this most of the time, that is not the case today, with two independents on the ballot paper who strongly support territory rights.

It's a fact well worth keeping in mind as Canberrans fill in their ballot paper today.

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