The passage of a bill to restore the rights of the territories to legislate on assisted dying through Federal Parliament's lower house has been hailed as a "momentous" and historic day for the ACT.
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But Canberra MP Alicia Payne has cautioned that the fight to repeal the 25-year-old Andrews bill is far from over, as supporters brace for a much tighter vote in the Senate.
Ms Payne and fellow Labor backbencher Luke Gosling have also called for a "respectful" and "mature" debate on the bill ahead of the upper house vote, after a senior Liberal frontbencher cited Nazi Germany's euthanasia program in a speech arguing against territory rights.
Luke Gosling and Ms Payne's territory rights bill comfortably passed through the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning, with 99 MPs voting in support and 37 against.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton and his deputy Sussan Ley were among the Coalition MPs to back the bill, in what was a conscience vote for members of the two major parties.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison voted no, as did Labor's employment minister Tony Burke.
"It's an incredibly special moment that our bill has passed the House," Ms Payne said after the vote.
"I'm very, very thankful to each of our parliamentary colleagues across political lines who supported the rights of territories to have the same democratic rights as other Australians."
Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne said the vote marked a historic and momentous day for the ACT, as it was the first time a territory rights bill had passed through any chamber since the Andrews ban came into force in 1997.
The territory rights fight now heads to parliament's upper house, which will decide if the Andrews bill is overturned or not.
"I'm really thankful that the House has passed this bill, but we're only halfway there," Ms Payne said.
Mr Gosling was hopeful the Senate would debate the bill as soon as the next sitting period, starting on September 5.
The bill was always expected to pass in the lower house, where Labor holds a slim majority and progressive independents comprise most of the crossbench.
But the fight is set to be harder in the Senate because of the makeup of the upper house.
David Leyonhjelm's bill to restore territory rights was voted down in the Senate in 2018, after seven Labor senators sided with Coalition members and conservative crossbenchers.
Mr Barr said the success of the lower house vote "sends a strong signal" to senators.
Mr Gosling would not speculate on how the Senate vote might play out.
But the Solomon MP was "quietly encouraged" after talks with colleagues suggested they were treating the bill as a matter of democratic rights, rather than being about assisted dying.
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Conservative opponents attempted to use debate on the bill to rubbish that argument, with Shadow Attorney-General Julian Leeser arguing that it endorsed "no other right then the right to kill fellow territorians".
Mr Leeser also referenced Nazi Germany's systematic murder of disabled people before the Holocaust to argue against restoring the rights of the ACT and Northern Territory parliaments to legalise assisted dying.
Ms Payne said some of the speeches from opponents in the past two days were "quite hard to listen to".
She said the debate could become "damaging" for those with strong views if it was not conducted respectfully.
Mr Barr and Ms Cheyne said they would be lobbying Senators ahead of the upper house vote.
The chief minister this week said his government would not rush the process of creating ACT assisted dying laws if the federal ban was lifted, but wanted a bill passed before the 2024 territory election.
All states have passed assisted dying laws since Victoria become the first in 2017.
"The ACT community and Legislative Assembly are ready and capable of having a mature and respectful discussion about voluntary assisted dying," Mr Barr said.
"Commonwealth legislation currently denies the residents of the ACT and the Northern Territory this right. The legislative bar on the territories is particularly absurd given that all States in have now legislated in this area.