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Speaker 1: Well. Yesterday in Parliament, Justine Davis, the Independent for Johnson,

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Speaker 1: was calling on the Colp government to fully implement the

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Speaker 1: recommendations of the July twenty twenty four report Intervoluntary Assisted

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Speaker 1: Dying in the Northern Territory, and Justine joins.

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Speaker 2: Me on the line right now. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Justine, Hey Katie, how are you going?

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Speaker 2: You're really good?

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Now,

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Speaker 1: what was the motion in parliament yesterday?

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Speaker 2: And where are we at?

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Speaker 3: So great question? Where are we at? Is something I've

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Speaker 3: definitely been asking myself the last two weeks as we

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Speaker 3: go sit in our first session of parliament. So the

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Speaker 3: motion was what's called a notice of motion and what

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Speaker 3: that means is that we let the Parliament know that

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Speaker 3: we have the intention of bringing a motion to Parliament

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Speaker 3: and then just so people know, it then goes on

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Speaker 3: a list. This is one of the things that people

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Speaker 3: have asked me, when is this actually going to happen?

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Speaker 3: It goes on a list for general business. The Parliament

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Speaker 3: only discusses general business one day a week when Parliament

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Speaker 3: is sitting, and this is currently number six, so it'll

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Speaker 3: probably come up sometime next year.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think it's something really I think it is

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Speaker 1: something that's really quite important to you know, to discuss

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Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. It's something that a lot of

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Speaker 1: Territorians are pretty passionate about. I know some don't agree,

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Speaker 1: but you know, for me, my personal view is it's

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Speaker 1: it is the one final thing that somebody has control over,

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Speaker 1: particularly somebody who's terminally ill or who has maybe been

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Speaker 1: battling an illness very you know, terminal illness for a

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Speaker 1: very long time. So I know it is really important

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Speaker 1: to a lot of people. Now I understand you really

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Speaker 1: want it on the agenda asap.

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Speaker 2: Why is it such an important issue for you?

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Speaker 3: I think exactly as you as you just said, Katie.

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Speaker 3: It's interesting this this sitting of Parliament, we've heard a

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Speaker 3: lot about bills being passed on urgency. As someone in

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Speaker 3: my electorate said to me last night, how much more

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Speaker 3: urgent can you get than this? It's something that is

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Speaker 3: we know is really important and of great concern to

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Speaker 3: many people. There's been a lot of research done. More

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Speaker 3: than seventy five percent of people in the territory are

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Speaker 3: very strongly in support of being able to be We

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Speaker 3: were the first place in Australia. I said that in

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Speaker 3: the world to have this legislation, we're now going to

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Speaker 3: be the last in Australia, which people say to me

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Speaker 3: they just feel is shameful. It was a very strong

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Speaker 3: theme throughout the election when people came up to me

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Speaker 3: and said, this is something that's really important to me.

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Speaker 3: It has to be on the agenda and what are

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Speaker 3: you going to do about it? I know similarly for

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Speaker 3: the Member for Nightcliff, she had similar experiences in her

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Speaker 3: community and she actually tabled this report in Parliament alongside me,

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Speaker 3: putting up the motion. So yes, there are obviously there

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Speaker 3: are processes of how parliament works, and as I said,

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Speaker 3: that's something that I'm learning about this on the as

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Speaker 3: quickly as I could, so we'll be working on it

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Speaker 3: as quickly as we can.

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Speaker 1: What are some of the key recommendations that you want

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Speaker 1: to see implemented?

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Speaker 3: Great question. I'm just going to bring them up in

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Speaker 3: front of me and for anyone who hasn't had had

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Speaker 3: an opportunity to see this report, it's available online. It's

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Speaker 3: called Report into Voluntary Assisted Dying in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 3: that came out in the middle of this year. It's

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Speaker 3: a really comprehensive outline of what people here so they

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Speaker 3: want after a lot of consultation, what happens in other places,

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Speaker 3: and then some recommendations for what we could do here.

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Speaker 3: So there's actually twenty two recommendations. The first one is

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Speaker 3: that the NT should implement voluntary assisted dying legislation that's

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Speaker 3: broadly consistent with legislation in all other states and territories.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of detail about how that legislation could

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Speaker 3: work here. We all know that the territory is a

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Speaker 3: unique place, and we have a lot of things that

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Speaker 3: we need to consider when we're making law for this

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Speaker 3: place to make sure that it works for everyone here.

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Speaker 3: So this this report and there's recommendations, consider them really clearly.

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Speaker 3: And the last recommendation is that the idea services should

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Speaker 3: be ready for operational implementation within eighteen months of the

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Speaker 3: legislation being enacted. So, as I just said, that may

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Speaker 3: be a long time coming. So and look, process is it.

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Speaker 2: Sorry, Yeah, I get it, I get it that.

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Speaker 1: Prior to the election, you know, maybe the CLP didn't

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Speaker 1: want to make it a big issue prior to the election,

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Speaker 1: you know, they were focused on other things. But the

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Speaker 1: fact is now it is something that you know that

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Speaker 1: realistically you could be having that conscience vote if it

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Speaker 1: gets to that point, and people will vote, you know, the.

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Speaker 2: Way that they want to vote.

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Speaker 1: But I think it's really important to listen to your

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Speaker 1: electorate on something like this and know, as you've said,

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Speaker 1: it is something that's changed everywhere else in Australia and

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Speaker 1: as it stands, we just seem to be dragging our heels.

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Speaker 3: I absolutely agree with you, Katie. And look, I can't

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Speaker 3: speak for the THELP, but I can say that yesterday

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Speaker 3: when the Member for night Because actually asked the Chief

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Speaker 3: Minister whether they would be supporting this motion, she said

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Speaker 3: very clearly in parliament this is not a priority for us.

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Speaker 3: So that's a very clear message. I urge people who

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Speaker 3: do feel like this is an issue that's of importance

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Speaker 3: them and priority to them to let the Chief Minister

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Speaker 3: know that this is something that should be a priority.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Justine, what else is on the agenda for you

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Speaker 1: today in Parliament?

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Speaker 2: How's it been.

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Speaker 1: Going your first two weeks of parliamentary sittings?

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Speaker 3: Ah, it's been pretty hectic. So I think, as I

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Speaker 3: said on your show on Friday, I mean, this is

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Speaker 3: obviously my first experience of all of this. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of us. There's twelve of us who are new

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Speaker 3: in Parliament, so there's lots of us who are learning

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Speaker 3: how things work. This sitting has been particularly challenging because,

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Speaker 3: as we know, the THEOP have put up five new

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Speaker 3: bits of law and they put them all through on urgency,

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Speaker 3: and so there hasn't really been time to properly look

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Speaker 3: at what those bills might might do if they're passed.

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Speaker 3: Four of them have been passed, the fifth one is

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Speaker 3: is going to be voted on today. So that fifth one,

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Speaker 3: just in terms of what's before Parliament's day, is the

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Speaker 3: law that talks about changing the Sentencing Act so that

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Speaker 3: people well, it's still a little bit actually, I have

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Speaker 3: to say, unclear to me, even though I've done extensive

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Speaker 3: consultation about this in the time that's been available to me.

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Speaker 3: But part of it is increasing mandatory sentencing for that

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Speaker 3: judges will have to impose someone from its particular offenses.

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Speaker 3: I've got huge concerns about mandatory sentencing. It doesn't work,

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Speaker 3: it doesn't work as a deterre and it takes power

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Speaker 3: away from the courts. The people who are trained paid

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Speaker 3: a huge amount of money and who we put our

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Speaker 3: trust in to be making decisions for all of us.

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Speaker 3: It takes a power away from them and gives it

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Speaker 3: to us in the legislature, and I don't think that's appropriate.

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Speaker 3: I also don't think it's going to work. I think

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Speaker 3: I'm absolutely concerned, like everyone in this chamber and everyone

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Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory is absolutely concerned about work of safety.

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Speaker 3: The things that we've seen that are happening to work

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Speaker 3: are completely unacceptable. I'm no stranger to working with victims.

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Speaker 3: I've done that work through much of my work history.

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Speaker 3: I will always stand with people to ensure that they're safe.

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Speaker 3: But I can't see how this law is actually going

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Speaker 3: to work to make people safe, and I think it

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Speaker 3: underlines our justice system. So that's going to be We're

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Speaker 3: going to continue debate on that thing. That's what I've

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Speaker 3: been saying on the floor, and that'll be voting on it.

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Speaker 1: Well, Justine, I tell you what, you have certainly had

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Speaker 1: to hit the ground running.

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Speaker 2: There is no other way to put us.

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Speaker 1: But what I've really appreciated all the time you've given

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Speaker 1: to us as well since becoming the local member.

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Speaker 2: So thank you so very.

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Speaker 1: Much for having a chat with us this morning, and

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Speaker 1: no doubt we'll talk to you very soon.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Can I just say one more thing, just

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Speaker 3: in terms of the voluntary sister dying. Before I left

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Speaker 3: my office to come into Parliament, one of my constituents

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Speaker 3: came to me and she said, if you come back

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Speaker 3: to this office and you haven't done something about voluntary

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Speaker 3: sister dying, you have no right to be in that place.

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Speaker 3: And so this is a shout out to her. I'm

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Speaker 3: doing what I can.

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Speaker 1: Good on you, and you know we do all have

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Speaker 1: to stand up for what we think is right.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I appreciate your time. Justine, Thank you, Thanks Katie,

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Speaker 2: thank you you too. Thanks