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Speaker 1: Well. Darwin residents are being invited to share their thoughts

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Speaker 1: on voluntary assisted dying at the upcoming community forums. An

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Speaker 1: advisory panel which is led by former mt administrator Vicky

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Speaker 1: O'Halloran AO CVO and Barrister Duncan McConnell sc will host

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Speaker 1: a session, well one of them in fact tonight, as

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Speaker 1: I understand it, and joining me on the line to

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Speaker 1: talk us through the process and how you can have

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Speaker 1: your say, is co chair Duncan McConnell. Good morning to you, Duncan.

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Speaker 2: Hello Katie, thanks for having me on your program.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, great to have you on the show now, Duncan.

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Speaker 1: I understand that the community meetings some have already started

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Speaker 1: in Catherine. How did that one go?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, we've got a really positive response and a

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Speaker 2: good turnout. We've got people coming along as members of

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Speaker 2: the public and we also got people from the health

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Speaker 2: and medical and allied health professions coming along with lots

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Speaker 2: of questions and contributions. It was a really good discussion.

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Speaker 1: And tell me who can head along? Can anybody go

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Speaker 1: to these different sessions?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yeah, they're open for the public and.

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Speaker 1: So when and where's the one that's happening in Darwin's at.

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Speaker 2: The Oaks Suites tonight, which I think is in Woods

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Speaker 2: Street in the city. If you go to our VAD

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Speaker 2: web page, I think there are links there to be

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Speaker 2: able to register to go along. But if you haven't

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Speaker 2: registered and you want to come along, there'll be people

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Speaker 2: there that can organize to get you in.

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Speaker 1: And what exactly are you hoping to get out of

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Speaker 1: the consultation process.

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Speaker 2: Well, the consultation process is widespread. It's not just members

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Speaker 2: of the public. It's also examining how a voluntary assisted

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Speaker 2: dying legislation could work in the Northern Territory within the

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Speaker 2: health system, for amongst the GP practices, first responders, police,

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Speaker 2: all aspects of the community that would be touched by

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Speaker 2: the experience of someone who chooses to end their life

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Speaker 2: through voluntary assisted dying. We need to speak to them

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Speaker 2: and understand how they would be impacted by this.

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Speaker 1: It can be a very emotionally charged discussion, but this

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Speaker 1: is really just about making sure that people's views and

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Speaker 1: their opinions are heard, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? And so we've got a whole range of forums

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Speaker 2: in which people can express their views. So we have

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Speaker 2: an online survey, we have we've called for submissions, so

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Speaker 2: if people want to put a more developed position to us,

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Speaker 2: they can send in a written submission and we're available

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Speaker 2: to meet with people individually rather than just in the

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Speaker 2: community forums if people want to share their story or

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Speaker 2: ask questions about it, but they don't want to do

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Speaker 2: so in that public way.

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Speaker 1: And can we expect there to be more sessions announced

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Speaker 1: for other parts of the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, So we've got the session tonight and then we've

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Speaker 2: got another session in Darwin on the first of November.

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Speaker 2: We'll also be hosting community type meetings in Palmerston, then

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Speaker 2: more rural areas as well as that. We're going to

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs in a couple of weeks time and into

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Speaker 2: Central Australia. We're off to East Darnham towards the end

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Speaker 2: of this month, back to Central Australia next month, so

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Speaker 2: we're hoping to try and get as far and wide

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Speaker 2: as we can. We're particularly interested to understand the issues

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Speaker 2: around this for the indigenousmunity. It's a very difficult, in

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Speaker 2: some ways, very sensitive issue, particularly when you're dealing with

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Speaker 2: people who often have a mistrust of the health system

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Speaker 2: as it is. To then introduce a concept like this

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Speaker 2: in those communities has to be done with care.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does. But it is so important that

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Speaker 1: the community is consulted, and I think it's really important

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Speaker 1: that you are heading out to those various different locations

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Speaker 1: around the Northern Territory, Duncan. When are we expecting the

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Speaker 1: panel to report back to the Northern Territory Government.

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Speaker 2: Oh, we've been given a time frame of July of

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four for the production of our report, and

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Speaker 2: that's actually an enormous amount of work that we will

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Speaker 2: need to cover within that time. So it's a pretty

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Speaker 2: significant undertaking. So we want to get the consultation with

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Speaker 2: the community and the various sectors underway. That is underway

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Speaker 2: now and we're starting to gain some real momentum with

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Speaker 2: that so that we're in a position to start to

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Speaker 2: put our report together in the early part of next year.

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Speaker 1: All right, So if anybody does want to attend that

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Speaker 1: session tonight, they do just need to make sure that

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Speaker 1: they jump online and register, don't they.

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Speaker 2: Look. Absolutely, we're not going to turn people away, but

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Speaker 2: just from the point of view of managing crowd numbers

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Speaker 2: and things like that, it's helpful if people can register.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I really appreciate your time this morning, Co

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Speaker 1: chair Duncan McConnell, and thank you so much for speaking

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Speaker 1: with us and no doubt we'll talk to you again

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Speaker 1: in the near future.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Katie, thank you.