NT backbencher Tanzil Rahman to propose changes to voluntary assisted dying bill

Northern Territory backbencher Tanzil Rahman announced he will table three amendments to his party’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill when it returns to parliament later this month. The proposed revisions would eliminate the current requirement that a patient have twelve months or less to live, permit clinicians to raise the option of voluntary assisted dying when criteria are met, and require residential care providers to supply information about the practice.

The bill, introduced by Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby, is slated to pass in a conscience vote, ending the NT’s status as the only Australian region without legal VAD. Rahman said the changes reflect “best practice and scholarly evidence” and would give terminally ill Territorians greater freedom of choice. Council on the Ageing NT chief executive Sue Shearer welcomed the amendments but urged swift passage, noting that delays would prolong a wait dating back to 1997.