First Nations say ‘VAD is not acceptable” in the NT. Say NO to euthanasia.

: 05 August 2026

Please contact all Members of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Territory as debate commences today to legislate to allow doctor assisted suicide and euthanasia.

There are 24 Members of the Legislative Assembly, (THE SEAT OF MULKA IS VACANT). Use all of the emails below, to ensure your email reaches both electoral and ministerial offices.

The Northern Territory Government is today debating a bill names the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2026. If passed this legislation will give doctors the power to deliberately end the lives of those patients who request it under certain circumstances - and of course we know these categories of vulnerable people will be expanded in time.

Clearly this is doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia not “voluntary assisted dying” as is dishonestly presented. Most people receive and are entitled to receive assistance when they are on the path towards death. That is not what the government is proposing.

First Nations People say "NO".

At community consultations in 2024 Elders told the Panel:

‘VAD is not acceptable”. “We have our own laws that have stood the test of time for tens of thousands of years and we do not need to change them now”, “There has always been fear in our community about going into hospital or going into Darwin when you are sick, because you will probably not return home.”

AND “In consultations conducted in Nhulunbuy, the representations were clear that “from a cultural perspective when it comes to family dying it is not seen as appropriate for that process to be sped up in anyway because there is a ceremonial process that has to happen, a beautiful process with song and dance the …and visiting to say goodbye.”

We commend further consultation undertaken by Mr Chanston Paech MLA who identified opposition to ‘VAD’ and as Member for the vast remote electorate of Gwoja expressed his electorate’s opposition to the bill: [1]

“Many have also told me that this concept of voluntary assisted dying is difficult to translate and even hard to understand in a cultural context. For many of our mob in the bush, it is not just about language, it is about a worldview.” "This idea does not easily fit within our cultural ways of understanding life, death and the role of family and kinship. If not communicated carefully and respectfully, it risks causing distress and confusion and, in some cases, could even create cultural and community unrest." [2]

^[1]https://nit.com.au/16-10-2025/20759/paech-to-abstain-from-’‘VAD’’-vote-despite-personal-support-citing-poor-indigenous-consultation

^[2] https://nit.com.au/16-10-2025/20759/paech-to-abstain-from-vad-vote-despite-personal-support-citing-poor-indigenous-consultation

The NT Parliament has ignored the excesses that have occurred in those countries like Canada, Holland and Belgium and the US state of Oregon, all of whom have been allowing doctors to kill patients for some years now. Professor Theo Boer, a euthanasia expert who spent 10 years on the reviewing Netherlands euthanasia cases was previously in favour of euthanasia - now he has seen where it leads. His view now is “don’t do it”. He has seen the categories of eligibly patients increase in alarming numbers. Indeed the Netherlands recently euthanased a 12 year old patient. He said once such a law is enacted, it is impossible to police for criminality.

He cited a Dutch case where there was a question over the legitimacy of a signature requesting euthanasia, and from which an ethics committee had to step back, because it did not hold criminal investigatory powers.

“When the doctor was asked: ‘Are you sure that this signature is the signature of the patient?’, the doctor said: ‘I was told that it was.’

Once you have a law … it is absolutely impossible to put a police officer in every hospital room or in every bedroom … and look [for] some silent pressure,” he said.

“That is impossible, because that will infringe very much on the privacy of their patient-doctor relationship, so there is no solution,” Professor Boer said.

The Northern Territory (NT) government introduced an assisted suicide and euthanasia bill into the NT Parliament in mid-2026.

Right to Life Australia provided an extensive submission to the government’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry opposing the introduction of the legislation. The Inquiry Report supported the introduction of assisted suicide and euthanasia legislation.

There has been a long history of the battle to protect the vulnerable in the Northern Territory. In 1995 the Northern Territory became first place in the world to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia under the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995.

Federal MP Kevin Andrews’ Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 amended the self-government acts of the territories and prohibited territorial governments from legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia. The Federal Parliament then passed the Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 paving the way to allow the Northern Territory government and the A.C.T (which has already legalised euthanasia) to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia.

There are 24 Members of the Legislative Assembly, (THE SEAT OF MULKA IS VACANT).

We ask all supporters to contact the NT Parliament and oppose legislation to allow assisted suicide and euthanasia.