LIZ TREVASKIS, HOST: Right now, more serious matters, because this morning the Restoring Territory Rights bill, it passed the lower house, the House of Representatives, 99 votes to 37 after two days of debate. It means Territorians are a step closer to having the same rights as people living in the States when it comes to being able to make laws around euthanasia or voluntary assisted dying. So what happens next and how can we be sure the same rights won't be taken away in the future? Luke Gosling is the Federal Member for Solomon. Good afternoon. Luke, the House voted on the bill this morning. It passed quite significantly. Were you expecting the vote to fall that way? 99 to 37?
LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: I didn't get that exact result, Liz. But from our conversations, all the territory federal MPs have been talking to our colleagues for a while just about issues and any concerns that they had, just so that they understood the decision that was before them. And it was a conscience vote, even though it was an issue of restoring territory rights as opposed to legislating for voluntary assisted dying. But I was confident that we had support of my colleagues and glad to see that that bore out during the vote. And now across to the Senate for them to have their say, and hopefully we'll have rights restored soon.
TREVASKIS: It's made it through the House. It's got to go to the Senate now. When does that happen?
GOSLING: So the message goes across from the House to the Senate, and then there's a decision made on the Senate about what legislation they vote on and when. So, for example, we've got climate change action legislation before the parliament at the moment and we're keen to get that through ASAP. But, you know, our bill, the Restoring Territory Rights bill is in front of that. What happens in the Senate is they have a selection committee and take legislation on to be voted on as they see fit. But it shouldn't be too far away.
TREVASKIS: Have you got a sense though of, you know, these processes happen, is it this week that it might get to the Senate or is it months from now?
GOSLING: We've only got one more sitting day. I think we're going to be here quite late tonight. And then we're sitting tomorrow. So, look, I'd love it if it got to the Senate tomorrow, but the fact of the matter is that not everyone in the Senate who wants to participate in the debate will get through their speeches tomorrow.
TREVASKIS: Okay. So if it doesn't go to the Senate tomorrow, when are we looking at it making its way there?
GOSLING: No, we're looking at the debate happening – hopefully the debate can start tomorrow in the Senate, but I'm not sure of that. But then in the next sitting week, which is in a couple of weeks’ time, we'll be back here in Canberra again. There's heaps on the legislative agenda, but obviously really stoked that we've got so much support from our colleagues for the restoration of our rights, so we're no longer second-class citizens. We're halfway there. We've just got the Senate to go.
TREVASKIS: Many in the Senate haven't indicated where they stand. The independents David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie have said they will support the bill. Where might other support come from?
GOSLING: I think there will be members of our team from Labor who will still not vote in support, I don’t think there'll be many of them. And there'll be some Coalition members that perhaps won't support the restoration of these Territory rights, backing in Kevin Andrews’s Bill from 1997.
TREVASKIS: Anyone in particular that you're having to work on before it goes to a vote?
GOSLING: Yeah, we're working across all of our colleagues, but as far as the NT is concerned, I've spoken with Senator Jacinta Price and also written to her and am obviously hoping for her support. But you know, these are decisions for individual senators. They aren’t locked in a vote from their party. They can choose how to vote.
TREVASKIS: Senator Price did indicate before the election that she wouldn't support restoring territory rights because she's opposed to euthanasia in the Northern Territory. Do you have a sense of where her position is now?
GOSLING: It's not as definite, is my understanding. I would never want to put words in her mouth, but I've seen some commentary where she's suggested that she's thinking through it. I think she might get some comfort on from the result in the House of Representatives in that the overwhelming majority of MPs clearly see, including the leader Peter Dutton, are clearly seeing that it's about backing in the territories and having them equally equal in our Australian democracy on these issues. And that it is, and it will not, this legislation, bring back to life the 1995 NT euthanasia legislation. That is dead and buried, that is null and void, that legislation. So all it does is allow debate in the future, should the NT and ACT Legislative Assemblies choose to do that.
TREVASKIS: Are there Coalition senators, though, who will support this? Because if Labor senators cross the floor because of the conscience vote, you'll need independents and the Opposition to vote for the bill. So do you know, is there any certainty when it comes to any of the Coalition senators that they will back the bill?
GOSLING: Yeah, you know, again, I wouldn't want to talk for any of them, but there are Coalition senators that have indicated that they're supportive of us being equal citizens as far as this goes and David Pocock, a new senator from the ACT, is an independent and is supportive. He's talking to his colleagues on the on the crossbench over there as well. And as you said, Jacqui Lambie is supportive and I would expect that there'd be some Greens senators that would also be supportive. So we need to keep working and making sure that people know that, you know, this isn't the start of voluntary assisted dying for the territories. If the Legislative Assemblies decided to do so, there would be a long consultation process and education process before any drafting of legislation was considered. And it was good to hear that Andrew Barr, the ACT Chief Minister, made that clear when he was here in the Parliament this week. And I know the NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles is of a similar view. So yeah, no rushing into legislation, but at least we will have our rights restored to make laws on issues that affect our lives the same as every other state has.
TREVASKIS: You said it’s a long night ahead of you before the final sitting day tomorrow. Must feel good to look to be in government to put forward a bill and have it passed.
GOSLING: Yeah, it's been a long time coming. This particular piece of legislation, I've put out private member’s bills in previous parliaments that haven't even been selected to come forward for a debate, let alone a vote. So, yeah, it's great that the majority of our colleagues down here have supported the territories. We need more federal representation, I think that's next. We need more representatives from the Territory down here, and that can actually happen through legislation. So that's something we'll work on next so that we've got more voices down here from the territories. And yes, we're halfway there and we're just going to keep talking to our colleagues, answering any questions they've got so they can make a fully informed choice when the vote happens in the Senate, which will probably be in the next sitting week.
TREVASKIS: All right. Go get a coffee, Luke, for the night. Luke Gosling, he is the federal Member for Solomon.
