The Australian Christian Lobby has thanked senators who voted to narrowly defeat a bill which would have opened the way for Australia’s two territories – the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory – to pass their own assisted suicide legislation.
The private members’ bill, which was put forward by Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, aimed to overturn a 20-year-old law preventing the territories from legalising assisted dying. The NT became the first Australian jurisdiction to legalise euthanasia in 1995 but the Federal Government passed legislation two years later which banned both territories from doing so. Leyonhjelm’s bill was defeated by 36 to 34 votes on Wednesday night.
Martyn Iles, managing director of the ACL, said it was “great to hear that the senate has upheld the dignity of life for all Australians”.
“We know from international experiences that euthanasia is a slippery slope which leads to cases like in Belgium recently where a nine-year-old with a brain tumour and an eleven-year-old with cystic fibrosis were euthanaised,” he said in a statement.
“The inherent value of every life must continue to be maintained. Australia must not become the kind of society where some lives where considered worthier of life than others.”
