Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon about euthanasia under the Territory Rights Bill

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Katie spoke with Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon about euthanasia under the Territory Rights Bill · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: It is mixed one O four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: It is just on ten twenty. Now. You would have
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  Speaker 2: heard us mentioned on the show yesterday that the Country
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  Speaker 2: Liberal Party's Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon, Well, she is
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  Speaker 2: still pushing for the Territory Rights Bill and it calls
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  Speaker 2: obviously to restore the rights of the Northern Territory government
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  Speaker 2: to legislate on euthanasia. As I understand it, it was
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  Speaker 2: brought to the Senate yesterday and joining me on the
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  Speaker 2: line right now is Senator Sam McMahon. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, good morning Katy, and good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: And what a fantastic day yesterday was for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just so proud for territory.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, what happened talk us through at Senator.
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  Speaker 1: So basically my bill was listed for debate last Monday,
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  Speaker 1: but got pushed off the listen y by Pauline Hanson.
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  Speaker 1: As we know we spoke about. Yeah, Now, Labor very
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  Speaker 1: kindly they had a spot yesterday morning for their private
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  Speaker 1: Senator's bill, and they very kind gave that spot to
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  Speaker 1: me in recognition of the work that I've done and
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  Speaker 1: the importance of this bill to the Northern territory.
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  Speaker 2: Well that I mean, it's not often that you see
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  Speaker 2: politics put to the side for what is the right
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  Speaker 2: thing for the Northern territory. But this is a good
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  Speaker 2: thing that that happened yesterday, Senator. What unfolded after you
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  Speaker 2: obviously brought that to the Parliament and where to next?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, So yeah, it was a great show of true bipartisanship.
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  Speaker 1: So what happened is we had the debate on the bill.
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  Speaker 1: So I Spy was a lead speaker for the Government
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  Speaker 1: on the bill and there were several other speakers, mostly
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  Speaker 1: very supportive of it. There was support from the Greens,
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  Speaker 1: there was support from Labor, and there was support from
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  Speaker 1: Rex Patrick. So that was debated until we ran out
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  Speaker 1: of the allocated time spot and now it's on the
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  Speaker 1: paper to be for the debate to be continued. The
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  Speaker 1: debate will be continued obviously next year when Parliament hits again.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so the first step has happened, Senator, what do
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  Speaker 2: you reckon what's going to happen from here? Is it
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  Speaker 2: going to get through?
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  Speaker 1: Well, Katie, I'm very very hopeful that it will. Look
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  Speaker 1: Labor stated yesterday that they are going to give their
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  Speaker 1: senators a conscience vote, which is fantastic. So obviously that
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  Speaker 1: means that those who support it can vote for it
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  Speaker 1: and those who don't can vote against. That's a fantastic
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  Speaker 1: outcome for them to say that. It doesn't happen very often,
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  Speaker 1: so that's great. So if we get a conscience vote,
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  Speaker 1: I am very very confident that we'll get this through.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, I know that it's something that the territories
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  Speaker 2: have been fighting for for an awfully long time. Can
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  Speaker 2: you just explain to our listeners if they've maybe not
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  Speaker 2: been hearing our conversations over recent months, what exactly is
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  Speaker 2: going to be included in this bell.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Katie. Included in this bill is basically just handing
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government the Legislative Assembly. It's handing the
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  Speaker 1: Legislative Assembly back the right to enact laws relating to
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  Speaker 1: voluntary assisted dying, should they decide to do so so.
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  Speaker 2: Then they'll obviously have the opportunity to vote, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: I see whether this gets through. If it gets to
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  Speaker 2: that point, that's right.
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  Speaker 1: It gives a territory the right to make its own
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  Speaker 1: laws for its own people around voluntary assisted dying, a
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  Speaker 1: right that all of the states have. All of the
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  Speaker 1: states have either enacted laws or considering laws, and that's
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  Speaker 1: the right that was stripped away from us twenty four
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  Speaker 1: years ago, and this will give us back that right
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  Speaker 1: to legislate for ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Senator Sam McMahon, hopefully we'll know early next year.
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  Speaker 2: Do you reckon, I.
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  Speaker 1: Reckon, so Okatie, I'm very very hopeful. Yeah, this has
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  Speaker 1: been great. This has been a long journey and a
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  Speaker 1: hard journey, and I'm very very pleased with what happened yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, you aren't going to be running, you know, you're
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  Speaker 2: not going to be the COLP senator come next election.
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  Speaker 2: Is are you hoping that this is going to be
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  Speaker 2: your legacy?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Katy, I'm not hoping it's going to be my legacy.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just hoping that I have enough time to get
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  Speaker 1: it through, to see it through to the finish, and
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  Speaker 1: to get it done because the reality is this bill
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  Speaker 1: will die when I leave.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Senator Sam McMahon, please keep us up to date,
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  Speaker 2: keep us in the loop, and let us know how
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  Speaker 2: things progress. Absolutely, thank you, thank you, thanks for your
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  Speaker 2: time this morning.