Claim: Australian euthanasia law loses by single parliament vote.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Private member's bill
text: - both times with little debate - and given Royal Assent on 31 July. Despite much public debate ever since on the issue of compulsory voting, the legislation has never been repealed. Another very notable private member's bill was the "Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996", which deprived the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island legislatures of the power to make laws permitting euthanasia. This was introduced by Kevin Andrews, Member for Menzies, after the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly had passed such a law, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995. Although Andrews was a member of the Liberal

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: euthanasia in November 2013, when a Greens-initiated voluntary euthanasia bill was narrowly defeated in the House of Assembly by a vote of 13-12. The bill would have allowed terminally ill Tasmanians to end their lives 10 days after making three separate requests to their doctor. Although both major parties allowed a conscience vote, all ten Liberals voted against the legislation, with Labor splitting seven in favour and three against, and all five Greens voting in favour. In November 2016, the South Australian House of Assembly narrowly rejected a private member's bill which would have legalised a right to request voluntary

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: legislator David Leyonhjelm introduced a bill into the Senate to remove the federal ban on the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory legislating for euthanasia. The bill was given priority in the Senate and was subject to a conscience vote for both the Coalition Government and opposition Labor Party, though it was defeated at the second reading stage by 36 votes to 34. Euthanasia was legalised in Australia's Northern Territory, by the "Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995". It passed by a vote of 15 to 10 and a year later, a repeal bill was brought before the Northern

title: Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995
text: from the federal parliament. Consequently, the federal parliament retains the right to legislate for the territory, including the right to territory laws. In practice, it very rarely exercised that right. On 25 March 1997, the federal parliament passed the "Euthanasia Laws Act 1997", which, although not technically repealing the "Rights of the Terminally Ill Act", for all practical purposes rendered it of no legal effect. Rather than repeal the Act directly, the law instead amended the "Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978", the act under which the Commonwealth Parliament has delegated legislative power to the Northern Territory Parliament—effectively the territory's "constitution"

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: legislatures, are not guaranteed by the Australian constitution and may be amended or overruled by the Commonwealth. However, before the Commonwealth government made this amendment, three people had already died through physician assisted suicide under the legislation, aided by Dr Philip Nitschke. The first person was a carpenter, Bob Dent, who died on 22 September 1996. Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm attempted to repeal the "Euthanasia Laws Act" and in August 2018 introduced the "Restoring Territory Rights (Assisted Suicide Legislation) Bill 2015". The bill was rejected by the Senate by 36 votes to 34. Tasmania came close to legalising voluntary

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: euthanasia in circumstances where a person is in unbearable pain and suffering from a terminal illness. The bill was the first ever euthanasia bill to pass a second reading stage (27 votes to 19) though the bill was rejected during the clauses debate of the bill (23 votes all, with the Speaker's casting vote against the bill). On 20 September 2017, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 was introduced into the Victorian Parliament by the Andrews Labor Government. The bill was modelled on the recommendations of an expert panel chaired by former Australian Medical Association president Professor Brian Owler. The

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: Territory Parliament in August 1996, but was defeated by 14 votes to 11. Soon after, the law was voided by the "Euthanasia Laws Act 1997" (Cth), a statute of the Australian Parliament that amended the "Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978", the "Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988" (Cth), and the "Norfolk Island Act 1979" (Cth), to remove the power of each of those territories to legalise euthanasia, and specifically to repeal the "Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995" (NT). The powers of the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and the Norfolk Island legislatures, unlike those of the State

title: Brendan Nelson
text: passed. In December 1996, Liberal MP Kevin Andrews raised a private members' bill to overturn the Northern Territory's euthanasia legislation, which had been championed by Dr Philip Nitschke. Nelson, along with former New South Wales premier John Fahey, were accused of convincing the son of the first man to die under the law, who had previously been a euthanasia advocate, to change his mind. The man, a branch secretary of a rural Liberal branch, ended up in hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown following the publicity surrounding the matter. When the bill went through the House of Representatives on 10

title: Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995
text: or "charter"—removing the Territory's constitutional power to pass any law permitting euthanasia. The Act technically remains in force in the Territory, but to the extent that it permits euthanasia it is now invalid and of no legal effect. Although passed as a reaction to the situation in the Northern Territory, the "Euthanasia Laws Act 1997" made similar amendments with respect to Australia's two other self-governing territories, the Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island, also preventing them from passing a law permitting euthanasia. The "Euthanasia Laws Act 1997" has no effect on the power of an Australian state to pass any

title: Voluntary euthanasia
text: was passed in the Northern Territory of Australia. Four patients died through assisted suicide under the Act, using a device designed by Dr Philip Nitschke. The legislation was overturned by Australia’s Federal Parliament in 1997. In response to the overturning of the Act, Nitschke founded EXIT International. In 2009, an Australian quadriplegic was granted the right to refuse sustenance and be allowed to die. The Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled that it was up to Christian Rossiter, aged 49, to decide if he was to continue to receive medical care (tube feeding) and that his carers had to abide

title: Legality of euthanasia
text: Zealand Crimes Act 1961, which renders it a criminal offence to "aid and abet suicide." Two decriminalisation attempts – the Death With Dignity Bill 1995 and the Death With Dignity Bill 2003 – failed, the latter by only a three-vote margin within the New Zealand Parliament. In May 2012, Labour Party of New Zealand MP Maryan Street introduced a private member's bill into the ballot box, the End of Life Choices Bill, which was taken over by MP Iain Lees-Galloway when she failed to get re-elected in the 2014 General Election. The bill was dropped in December 2014 at the

title: Legality of euthanasia
text: was once legal in the Northern Territory, by the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995. In 1997, the Australian Federal Government overrode the Northern Territory legislation through the introduction of the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997. Unlike the states, legislation in the Northern Territory is not guaranteed by the Australian constitution. During the brief period in which euthanasia was legal in the Northern Territory, Dr. Philip Nitschke helped three people end their lives through assisted suicide using his Deliverance machine. Organizations such as Exit International want the government to bring back euthanasia rights to Australia. Exit made TV commercials which

title: Euthanasia Laws Act 1997
text: Party backbencher Kevin Andrews as a private member's bill. Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 The Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia to amend the "Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978", the "Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988" (Cth) and the "Norfolk Island Act 1979" (Cth) to remove the power of the Parliament of each of those territories to legalise euthanasia. The law was enacted in response to the enactment by the Northern Territory Parliament of the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 (NT) which had legalised euthanasia in the Territory. The "Euthanasia Laws Bill

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: Euthanasia in Australia Euthanasia is illegal in Australia but Australian states can legislate on the issue. It was legal for a period in the Northern Territory and in November 2017 legislation to allow assisted suicide passed the Parliament of Victoria but will not come into effect until mid-2019. Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia have debated and failed to pass similar legislation in 2013, 2017 and 2017, respectively. A patient can elect not to receive any treatment for a terminal illness and can also elect to have their life support turned off. Although it is a crime to assist

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: and the Australian Catholic Church. Euthanasia in Australia Euthanasia is illegal in Australia but Australian states can legislate on the issue. It was legal for a period in the Northern Territory and in November 2017 legislation to allow assisted suicide passed the Parliament of Victoria but will not come into effect until mid-2019. Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia have debated and failed to pass similar legislation in 2013, 2017 and 2017, respectively. A patient can elect not to receive any treatment for a terminal illness and can also elect to have their life support turned off. Although it

title: Euthanasia Laws Act 1997
text: Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 The Euthanasia Laws Act 1997 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia to amend the "Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978", the "Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988" (Cth) and the "Norfolk Island Act 1979" (Cth) to remove the power of the Parliament of each of those territories to legalise euthanasia. The law was enacted in response to the enactment by the Northern Territory Parliament of the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 (NT) which had legalised euthanasia in the Territory. The "Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996" was introduced in the Australian Parliament by Liberal

title: Euthanasia in New Zealand
text: not support the legalisation of euthanasia. Two attempts to allow for legal euthanasia in New Zealand have failed to get through Parliament. In 1995 Michael Laws championed the Death with Dignity Bill, which aimed to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The terminal illness of Cam Campion, a colleague in Laws' first term in Parliament, prompted this advocacy. It failed by 61 votes against and 29 for the Bill. Peter Brown, when he was an MP for the New Zealand First political party, introduced a Death with Dignity Bill in 2003, but it was defeated by 59 to 58 votes. Brown became an

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: of assisting in the death of her elderly father, who had terminal cancer, and trying to kill her mother, who was in the early stages of dementia. She was sentenced to two and a half years in jail but the judge later suspended the conviction because he believed the community did not want the woman jailed. This sparked debate about decriminalising euthanasia. Decriminalisation of Euthanasia in Australia is supported by the Science Party, Australian Greens, the Secular Party of Australia, the Reason Party, and the Liberal Democratic Party. In 2009 Shirley Justins and Caren Jennings, were found guilty of manslaughter

title: Euthanasia in Australia
text: in euthanasia and suicide, prosecutions have been rare. In 2010, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal quashed a manslaughter conviction of a Sydney woman who had previously been found guilty of killing her partner of 18 years with a euthanasia drug. In 2002, relatives and friends who provided moral support to an elderly woman who committed suicide were extensively investigated by police, but no charges were laid. The Commonwealth government subsequently tried to hinder euthanasia with the passage of the Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Materials Offences) Bill of 2004. In Tasmania in 2005 a nurse was convicted

title: Kevin Andrews (politician)
text: suggesting the name for the group. As a backbencher, Andrews presented a private member's bill, the "Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996", which was passed in 1997 and overrode the Northern Territory's legislation, the "Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995", that legalised euthanasia in the Territory. Andrews called for an end to trials of the RU-486 drug and voted against a bill that took away the Health Minister's power to veto applications to allow the drug to be used. In taking a stance against stem cell research in 2002, he stated that it was the "first time" that "human beings can