However a long-awaited voluntary assisted dying bill introduced in Northern Territory parliament has received a mixed response, with critics saying it sends euthanasia rights backwards.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro hailed the bill as "a defining moment for the territory" and a hard‑fought achievement that gave the right of voluntary assisted dying to the terminally ill.
If the bill passes in August as expected, the NT will complete the national map of voluntary assisted dying, with clinical guidelines to be developed and territorians promised access to the scheme within about 18 months.
The NT opposition vowed not to stand in its way.
"This is too important for politics, and territorians should have the same right to choose their end‑of‑life care that people in every Australian state and territory already have," Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said.
The NT was the first jurisdiction in the world to legalise euthanasia in 1996.
Only a handful of terminally ill people used the law before the federal parliament in 1997 stripped the territories of the power to pass assisted dying legislation, ending the scheme and freezing the issue for 25 years.
That veto was only lifted in 2022, restoring the NT's right to make its own assisted dying laws and setting the stage for a second attempt.
Independent MP Justine Davis, who put the issue back on the agenda in 2024, called the legislation "a historic win for community advocacy."
"One of the very first things my community asked me to do after I was elected was fight for voluntary assisted dying," she said.
"A constituent walked into my office and said, 'don't come back here until you've got this done,' and today I can say: together, we are nearly there."
Under the bill only people with 12 months or less to live would have access to assisted dying.
Ms Davis said the bill was "not perfect" and vowed to move amendments to scrap the 12‑month prognosis rule and a so‑called gag clause that stopped doctors from raising voluntary assisted dying with patients.
Go Gentle Australia said the bill was a welcome development 30 years in the making but accused the NT government of taking assisted dying rights "backwards."
The advocacy group, founded by TV identity Andrew Denton, said a six to 12-month prognosis model had been rejected in the ACT.
It warned the bill created a "cruel barrier", effectively telling some dying Australians to come back when their condition had worsened and their suffering was sufficiently severe.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' NT branch also questioned the gag clause, saying patients were entitled to be provided information and be aware of what their treatment options were.
"Doctors need to be able to raise voluntary assisted dying during discussion about end‑of‑life options."
However Council on the Ageing NT president Sue Shearer said the bill was "good news for the terminally ill".
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