'Because of a postcode,' territory rights debate tackles fairness

"Because of a postcode. Because they live, work and raise their families in a territory they have fewer rights," ACT Senator Katy Gallagher said, and urged colleagues to "right the wrong".

"You're not asking for too much. You're just asking for the same rights as your neighbours across the border in Queanbeyan."

"This is our best chance to get it done."

The Senate debate on Alicia Payne and Luke Gosling's private members' bill to restore territory rights has begun, with proponents arguing it is a matter of democracy, choice and fairness and those against stating it's not just a matter of state rights, rather it goes to "matters of life" and is a "green light" to voluntary assisted dying.

"These two are absolutely intertwined," NSW Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill said, while stating she was "garden variety Catholic" and was giving a "faith perspective" in the debate.

NSW recently passed its own voluntary assisted dying regime this year, the last of the states.

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The senator, who voted against the 2019 attempt, spoke of her own father's painful end of life experience 35 years ago from an aggressive brain tumour and admitted, "we were very distressed and that sort of makes you question everything".

But she said his palliative care was adjusted to reduce his pain and she insists such care is better now "to keep people with us."

That is not everyone's story.

And for proponents of restoring territory rights, the Senate is not the chamber to debate the ins and outs of voluntary euthanasia.

"And no one is being asked to do so," independent ACT senator David Pocock told the Senate.

"Senators are only being asked to allow the territories to have the debate for themselves."

And the 25 year ban on having the debate is wrong, according to Nationals Deputy Leader Perin Davey.

"We either support the territories governing and making laws for the peace, order and good government of their people. Or we don't. I don't think it is fair," she said.

Based on known numbers, and the notable backing of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, what is happening now is the best chance to repeal Kevin Andrews' private members' bill passed in 1997 to overturn the NT's 1995 world-first voluntary euthanasia regime.

But don't be fooled by only one likely opponent speaking on Monday. It is tight in the Senate and opponents are less likely to contribute a voice to the debate.

Some Coalition figures have switched their vote for repeal such as Linda Reynolds. And there are others who are not ready to flag their intentions. There are also a handful of Labor senators who remain opposed. There are also crossbenchers who are won over - or almost won over - by the argument of territory democratic rights or freedoms.

Senator Pocock, who has been seeking out Senate colleagues in an effort to shift votes, admitted on Monday that he was "not confident" the numbers are there this time around. A vote is not likely during this sitting fortnight and the November, December sitting weeks are not a definite prospect either.

Opposition Senate leader Simon Birmingham, who voted for repeal in 2019, was ruing how parliament even went down this path back in the late 1990s, saying the Andrews Bill should "never have been enacted in the first place."

"It was always anachronistic for the Commonwealth to have decided that the one limitation on the territories compared with the states would be on the question of voluntary euthanasia or voluntary assisted dying," the Senator said.

The 25-year ban is from a previous generation and it is for this generation to sort out. The fact that all other states now have their own voluntary euthanasia laws and that senators from those states are now deciding the fate of the territories is, for many, the big clincher.

It is not lost on Senator Davey.

"Most of us don't live in either of the territories. In fact, in the Senate there's only four territory senators out of 76 of us. So for the rest of the 72 of us, I don't think we should be telling them what they can and can't do," she said.

"They have the legislative assemblies now. We passed that in '78 for the Northern Territory and '88 for the ACT and we should let them govern. So I will be voting in support of this bill."

Full self-government is on the table.

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