Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge and thank the Northern Territory and ACT parliamentary delegations, who have joined us here today at federal Parliament House. From the Northern Territory, we've got a cross-party delegation including the Attorney-General, the Hon. Natasha Fyles MLA; the Speaker of the House, the Hon. Kezia Purick MLA; and the opposition leader, Mr Gary Higgins MLA. Theirs is an unmistakable show of bipartisan commitment. My fellow Territorians have come here to fight for the right of Territorians to make decisions for ourselves. Yesterday, the delegation presented the Speaker of the House with a motion passed in the NT parliament, and right now they are meeting with the President of the Senate.

We appeal to the parliament that the Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2018 be debated and brought to a vote in the lower house and then in the Senate. I repeat here today that this bill does not re-enact euthanasia in the NT or the ACT. It allows people who live in Australian territories the same rights as 24 million other Australians who live in the states to legislate on issues that affect them. Demonstrate to Territorians, Prime Minister, that you do not consider them as second-class citizens unable to govern themselves.