Ms Bec Cody MLA (Chair)

Mrs Vicki Dunne MLA (Deputy Chair)

Ms Tara Cheyne MLA

Mrs Elizabeth Kikkert MLA

Ms Caroline Le Couteur MLA

Amended terms of reference for the Committee inquiry (as passed by the Assembly, 2 August 2018):

That:

(1) a select committee be established to inquire into end of life choices in the ACT, including:

• (a) current practices utilised in the medical community to assist a person to exercise their preference in managing the end of their life, including palliative care;
• (b) ACT community views on the desirability of voluntary assisted dying being legislated in the ACT;
• (c) risks to individuals and the community associated with voluntary assisted dying and whether and how these can be managed;
• (d) the applicability of voluntary assisted dying schemes operating in other jurisdictions to the ACT, particularly the Victorian scheme;
• (e) the impact of Federal legislation on the ACT determining its own policy on voluntary assisted dying and the process for achieving change; and
• (f) any other relevant matter;

(2) the select committee shall consist of the following number of members, composed of:

• (a) two Members to be nominated by the Government;
• (b) two Members to be nominated by the Opposition; and
• (c) one Member to be nominated by the Crossbench;

(3) the select committee be provided with necessary staff, facilities and resources;

(4) the select committee is to report by the last sitting day in 2018;

(5) if the Assembly is not sitting when the committee has completed its inquiry, the committee may send its report to the Speaker or, in the absence of the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, who is authorised to give directions for its printing, publishing and circulation;

(6) the foregoing provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders;

(7) nominations for membership of the committee be notified in writing to the Speaker within two hours following conclusion of the debate on the matter; and

(8) notwithstanding the provisions of standing order 241, Committee considerations do not preclude Members from publicly discussing Territory rights, including the current Federal legislative restriction on voluntary assisted dying, to allow all Members to comply with that contained within (4) of the unanimously passed Voluntary Assisted Dying motion of 1 November 2017.

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Legislative Assembly - Voluntary Assisted Dying motion of 1 November 2017

Paragraph 4 – see resolution passed on 2 August 2018 (above).

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• (4)     calls on the ACT Government and each Member of the Legislative Assembly:
• (a)     to raise with Federal political colleagues and counterparts, as appropriate, the increasingly paternalistic and unreasonable curtailment of ACT Legislative Assembly legislative powers, and how poorly this reflects on the Commonwealth Parliament’s understanding of the ACT’s capacity to govern itself;
• (b)     to convey to the Commonwealth Government and Opposition, at every available and appropriate forum, the need to repeal the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 and restore to the Territories the right to make laws in respect of voluntary euthanasia and voluntary assisted dying; and
• (c)    to consider as soon as practicable, upon the passage of a scheme in any Australian State to allow voluntary assisted dying, whether and how the ACT community can have input on a possible model for such a scheme in the ACT

On 27 November 2018—at its meeting, the Assembly agreed to amend by omitting the words "last sitting day in 2018" and substituting “last sitting day in March 2019'.

View hearings transcripts

Secretary: Mr Andrew Snedden

Phone: (02) 620 50199

Email: andrew.snedden@parliament.act.gov.au