Page 404 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 21 March 2023
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In summary, the audit highlights the importance of prevention and its contribution to children’s long-term health and wellbeing, as well as the importance of investment in evaluation and monitoring to demonstrate the significant contribution of prevention across the life course. The government’s response to the audit will strengthen these efforts.
I present the following papers:
Auditor-General Act, pursuant to subsection 21(1)—Auditor General’s Report 7/2022—ACT childhood healthy eating and active living programs—Government response—
Government response, dated March 2023.
Ministerial statement, 21 March 2023.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the ministerial statement.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Legislation—voluntary assisted dying—consultation
Ministerial statement
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra—Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Business and Better Regulation, Minister for Human Rights and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (10.43): I rise today to provide the Assembly and the community with an update on the consultation process underway for voluntary assisted dying in the ACT. As members are aware, in 1997 the federal parliament placed a ban on the territories making laws about this important matter. For 25 years the Canberra community and the Legislative Assembly were prevented from considering an issue that deeply matters to them. This became increasingly unconscionable as we witnessed all six Australian states legislate voluntary assisted dying.
On 1 December last year, the federal parliament passed the Restoring Territory Rights Act 2022. This restored the ACT’s ability to decide if, and how, voluntary assisted dying could work in the ACT. The passage of the Restoring Territory Rights Act 2022 was a victory for democratic rights and for human rights. I credit Canberrans for creating a momentum that could not be ignored, ensuring that this issue finally got the deserved attention and resolution.
The ACT government knows that most Canberrans support voluntary assisted dying. We are committed to understanding how our community wants voluntary assisted dying to work in the ACT. That is why, on 7 February this year, we commenced public consultation to seek the community’s views and feedback on this most important issue. While we are in a good position to draw from the experiences and legislation of the other states, only Victoria and WA have been operational for any meaningful period of time, and, while states’ models are similar, none of them is identical. Each state has also gone through its own consultation.
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