Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
An issue that a lot of Territorians feel really very
passionately about. We know that some progress has been made
when it comes to voluntary assisted dying in the Northern Territory.
The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is calling for submissions
to its inquiry and as I understand it, they've also
engaged in further meetings and consultation. Now joining me in
(00:20):
the studio is the lc AC chair, that is, the
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Chair, Tanseil Rahman. Good morning
to you, Tansel.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning Katie. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, good to have you in this studio now, Tansel.
Submissions are currently being called for and have been for
the last week or so. Do you know if you've
received many at this stage.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, Katie, they're coming in thick and fast. Territorians have
wanted to have a say on this issue and have
done so in the past and exercising the opportunity to
do so again. So we're getting lots of written submptions
coming in and people are also calling into the hotline
to be able to just verbally tell us right what
they want to tell us, and all of that forms
part of the evidence base that will go forward with
(01:02):
us towards a final report and hopefully some modern legislation
if appropriate.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And so will those submissions be published, those written submissions,
and also the people verbally calling.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
That's a decision for the committee, and in actual fact,
that's a decision we'll be taking at tomorrow morning's committee
meeting at ten am. So one of the things on
the agenda is confirming that the submissions that come through
will by default all be public. If occasionally somebody writes
into us saying that I don't want this to go public,
then that's the thing we consider separately, and then we
determine whether or not it should go public or not.
(01:34):
But in the ordinary course of events, all the submissions
that come through to the inquiry will be public and
available online.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And so another meeting happening tomorrow morning. What else is
going to be on the agenda.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
For that one, Well, tomorrow morning's big agenda item is
essentially appointing a specialist legal advisor to help us on
the journey. Because what we're trying to do here, as
I've said before, is not reinvent the wheel, but progress
the agenda. And so what we really need in that
regard is somebody to help us to get from all
of territory's thoughts to something that is legally sound. And
(02:04):
so tomorrow we'll be looking at some excellent candidates who
are going to be helping us on the journey legally.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, So by tomorrow afternoon we should know who that
person is going to be.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
By tomorrow morning, we'll have made that decision, and a
couple of days later we will again, on next Monday,
the twenty eighth, have another meeting, at which point we
will hopefully confirm and codify those meeting minutes. And so
once that happens Monday week, I will be in a
position to be able to make those announcements publicly.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
That'll be good. It'll be good to find out exactly
who that person's going to be. Now, Tansil tell me,
I mean you've just touched on then further meetings taking
place tomorrow as soon as tomorrow, but have further meetings
and consultations taken place, you know, with the community.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
As well, not specifically with the community directly yet, because
it's been about getting all our ducks in a row,
as I pointed out before, So we've had a range
of meetings. We last met when was it on the well,
I'm forgetting anywhere. But the bottom line is we're about
to meet again tomorrow and again on Monday before for
the weak of parliamentary sittings. At the Monday meeting, sorry,
(03:04):
at the parliamentary sittings coming up, the committee will also
table an interim report to the Parliament so that all
members as well as the public are aware of where
we're up to. But what we're essentially doing now in
tomorrow's meeting and on Monday's meeting is finalizing our public
hearing schedule for remote engagement throughout the month of August.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, so throughout August is essentially when those public consultations
will happen. That's correct, yeh. Do you have a fair
idea yet of where they'll be, like if you're going
out to specific communities and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
We have a working list of places that we're looking
to go to, but it's very much contingent on community willingness,
their availability, their interest, and some resource constraints as well.
But at the moment, we're tentatively throughout August going to
be in about twelve different places, including non exhaustively Ali Kerrang,
Alice Springs, Bora, Lula Managarita, Nuka Papana, Santa Theresa, tennin
(03:57):
Creek where Ima Younger. There are a few others as well,
and again that is a tentative list. I should be
cared because what we're trying to do is not go
out unannounced or uninvited. We've been going through a careful
process of letting all the stakeholders out there know we'd
like your thoughts on this issue. Would we be welcome
to come and have a conversation with you? And it
may be the case that some communities would prefer you didn't,
(04:18):
but those that do want us to come out, we
will certainly make our best effort and endeavor to get
out to it.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So you're hoping to visit twelve different communities in August, ALIGNE.
That's a lot. Do you feel like you'll be able
to sort of do the thorough consultation that's required.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Absolutely. I mean the whole point here is that the
committee is working really well across party lines to resolve
this issue for the Northern Territory, and that means that
we have to be pragmatic about working within our time
and resource constraints. And so look, there are only so
many places you can get in the working days in August,
but pretty much throughout the month of August, every Tuesday morning,
we as a committee will be heading out to a
(04:52):
community and sort of coming back at the end of
the week. And we've all committed to investing that time
because we all believe this is an important issue that
Territorians want us to get on top of Tanseil.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's quite a tight turnaround for the committee, Mini, I
should say, in terms of reporting back to the government,
I mean, are you confident that you're going to be
able to really do the thorough consultation and then you
get something back that will hopefully mean that at some
(05:23):
stage where you know we're going to go to a
vo sure that you know that I don't know that
this actually really genuinely does progress for Territorians.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, I'm quietly confident about that, Katie. And the reason is,
as I say, because we are a committee of five
now that are working together for the betterment of Territorians
on this issue. We know that there is limited time.
Nobody wants us to be doing an inquiry for the
next three years. Nobody also wants us to be doing
a nonsense inquiry for three minutes. We found a happy
middle ground where we're doing the best we can to
(05:53):
gather some supplementary data and information to add to everything
that we already have over many years, which also includes,
of course the independent Expert Panel report from last year,
which is very much the basis of our inquiry. We
were asked to essentially look into that, look into the
model that they were suggesting, go out and do some
extra remote consultation, think about specific challenges for the NTY,
(06:13):
and then if appropriate, move towards a solution. Right some
drafting instructions.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And model bill.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Now to do those kind of things, what we need
to do is juggle parallel processes, and that's why I'm
on here talking to you about this today rather than
at the end of when everything is fixed up. That's
why I'm lodging interim reports to the Parliament as we go,
so that people have an idea of what we're doing.
And I'm absolutely confident that we will be able to
report back to the Attorney General in the House in
September and we will simply see where we're at at
that point. But you know, this is an issue that
(06:40):
takes time to implement in the real world and so
it's going to take a little bit of time after
a report has generated a model bill is before the House.
But I'm confident that the government wants to move forward
with this issue, and that's why they've asked us to
do this work.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Tansel. It's a tough issue, right, like you and I
have spoken about this before, but politically it's a tough
one as well, in the sense that there's going to
be people from you know, there's going to be independence,
there's going to be members of Parliament, there's going to
be members of the opposition that all sort of disagree
to different elements, Like how do we are you, I guess,
(07:13):
are you confident that the work that you and the
remainder of the committee are doing is actually going to
get us to a point where we can finally, you know,
finally introduce voluntary assisted dying in the Northern territory.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Well, my commitment to territories is this, I will engage
in a thorough inquiry, I will produce a thorough report,
we will, if appropriate, produce model provisions for a bill,
and at that point it's up to the government to
decide how they want to proceed, the Government, though has
made clear that if we get to that point, there
will be a conscience vote on this matter. So at
that point it doesn't become a matter of what party
(07:48):
you belong to. It becomes a matter for each individual
member of Parliament to think about where they sit on
the issue and how they feel about a model bill,
how their community feels about it, how their constituency feels
about it. So, for example, I will be engaging in
a broad survey of all of the members of Fong
Limb over the month of August and September, asking my
constituents how do you feel about issues around voluntary cisedining,
(08:10):
so that if we get to a point where we
need to talk about a bill, I'll be armed with
the information to be able to say, well, my constituents
feel this way, and I'll know how I feel about it,
and on the balance of that be able to make
a sensible discision.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And that's exactly I think what people expect their local
member to do is, you know, engage with them to
get a fair understanding of how they feel, and that's
exactly what our local members are elected to do. So absolutely, Yeah, well, look,
I really appreciate your time this morning, and I look
forward to receiving those updates. Tansel Rahman, the member for
Fonglimb and also the chair of the Legal and Constitutional
(08:44):
Affairs Committee, thanks so much for joining us, for having
me again, Katie, thank you
An issue that a lot of Territorians feel really very
passionately about. We know that some progress has been made
when it comes to voluntary assisted dying in the Northern Territory.
The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is calling for submissions
to its inquiry and as I understand it, they've also
engaged in further meetings and consultation. Now joining me in
(00:20):
the studio is the lc AC chair, that is, the
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Chair, Tanseil Rahman. Good morning
to you, Tansel.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning Katie. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, good to have you in this studio now, Tansel.
Submissions are currently being called for and have been for
the last week or so. Do you know if you've
received many at this stage.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, Katie, they're coming in thick and fast. Territorians have
wanted to have a say on this issue and have
done so in the past and exercising the opportunity to
do so again. So we're getting lots of written submptions
coming in and people are also calling into the hotline
to be able to just verbally tell us right what
they want to tell us, and all of that forms
part of the evidence base that will go forward with
(01:02):
us towards a final report and hopefully some modern legislation
if appropriate.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And so will those submissions be published, those written submissions,
and also the people verbally calling.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
That's a decision for the committee, and in actual fact,
that's a decision we'll be taking at tomorrow morning's committee
meeting at ten am. So one of the things on
the agenda is confirming that the submissions that come through
will by default all be public. If occasionally somebody writes
into us saying that I don't want this to go public,
then that's the thing we consider separately, and then we
determine whether or not it should go public or not.
(01:34):
But in the ordinary course of events, all the submissions
that come through to the inquiry will be public and
available online.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And so another meeting happening tomorrow morning. What else is
going to be on the agenda.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
For that one, Well, tomorrow morning's big agenda item is
essentially appointing a specialist legal advisor to help us on
the journey. Because what we're trying to do here, as
I've said before, is not reinvent the wheel, but progress
the agenda. And so what we really need in that
regard is somebody to help us to get from all
of territory's thoughts to something that is legally sound. And
(02:04):
so tomorrow we'll be looking at some excellent candidates who
are going to be helping us on the journey legally.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, So by tomorrow afternoon we should know who that
person is going to be.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
By tomorrow morning, we'll have made that decision, and a
couple of days later we will again, on next Monday,
the twenty eighth, have another meeting, at which point we
will hopefully confirm and codify those meeting minutes. And so
once that happens Monday week, I will be in a
position to be able to make those announcements publicly.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
That'll be good. It'll be good to find out exactly
who that person's going to be. Now, Tansil tell me,
I mean you've just touched on then further meetings taking
place tomorrow as soon as tomorrow, but have further meetings
and consultations taken place, you know, with the community.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
As well, not specifically with the community directly yet, because
it's been about getting all our ducks in a row,
as I pointed out before, So we've had a range
of meetings. We last met when was it on the well,
I'm forgetting anywhere. But the bottom line is we're about
to meet again tomorrow and again on Monday before for
the weak of parliamentary sittings. At the Monday meeting, sorry,
(03:04):
at the parliamentary sittings coming up, the committee will also
table an interim report to the Parliament so that all
members as well as the public are aware of where
we're up to. But what we're essentially doing now in
tomorrow's meeting and on Monday's meeting is finalizing our public
hearing schedule for remote engagement throughout the month of August.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, so throughout August is essentially when those public consultations
will happen. That's correct, yeh. Do you have a fair
idea yet of where they'll be, like if you're going
out to specific communities and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
We have a working list of places that we're looking
to go to, but it's very much contingent on community willingness,
their availability, their interest, and some resource constraints as well.
But at the moment, we're tentatively throughout August going to
be in about twelve different places, including non exhaustively Ali Kerrang,
Alice Springs, Bora, Lula Managarita, Nuka Papana, Santa Theresa, tennin
(03:57):
Creek where Ima Younger. There are a few others as well,
and again that is a tentative list. I should be
cared because what we're trying to do is not go
out unannounced or uninvited. We've been going through a careful
process of letting all the stakeholders out there know we'd
like your thoughts on this issue. Would we be welcome
to come and have a conversation with you? And it
may be the case that some communities would prefer you didn't,
(04:18):
but those that do want us to come out, we
will certainly make our best effort and endeavor to get
out to it.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So you're hoping to visit twelve different communities in August, ALIGNE.
That's a lot. Do you feel like you'll be able
to sort of do the thorough consultation that's required.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Absolutely. I mean the whole point here is that the
committee is working really well across party lines to resolve
this issue for the Northern Territory, and that means that
we have to be pragmatic about working within our time
and resource constraints. And so look, there are only so
many places you can get in the working days in August,
but pretty much throughout the month of August, every Tuesday morning,
we as a committee will be heading out to a
(04:52):
community and sort of coming back at the end of
the week. And we've all committed to investing that time
because we all believe this is an important issue that
Territorians want us to get on top of Tanseil.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's quite a tight turnaround for the committee, Mini, I
should say, in terms of reporting back to the government,
I mean, are you confident that you're going to be
able to really do the thorough consultation and then you
get something back that will hopefully mean that at some
(05:23):
stage where you know we're going to go to a
vo sure that you know that I don't know that
this actually really genuinely does progress for Territorians.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, I'm quietly confident about that, Katie. And the reason is,
as I say, because we are a committee of five
now that are working together for the betterment of Territorians
on this issue. We know that there is limited time.
Nobody wants us to be doing an inquiry for the
next three years. Nobody also wants us to be doing
a nonsense inquiry for three minutes. We found a happy
middle ground where we're doing the best we can to
(05:53):
gather some supplementary data and information to add to everything
that we already have over many years, which also includes,
of course the independent Expert Panel report from last year,
which is very much the basis of our inquiry. We
were asked to essentially look into that, look into the
model that they were suggesting, go out and do some
extra remote consultation, think about specific challenges for the NTY,
(06:13):
and then if appropriate, move towards a solution. Right some
drafting instructions.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And model bill.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Now to do those kind of things, what we need
to do is juggle parallel processes, and that's why I'm
on here talking to you about this today rather than
at the end of when everything is fixed up. That's
why I'm lodging interim reports to the Parliament as we go,
so that people have an idea of what we're doing.
And I'm absolutely confident that we will be able to
report back to the Attorney General in the House in
September and we will simply see where we're at at
that point. But you know, this is an issue that
(06:40):
takes time to implement in the real world and so
it's going to take a little bit of time after
a report has generated a model bill is before the House.
But I'm confident that the government wants to move forward
with this issue, and that's why they've asked us to
do this work.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Tansel. It's a tough issue, right, like you and I
have spoken about this before, but politically it's a tough
one as well, in the sense that there's going to
be people from you know, there's going to be independence,
there's going to be members of Parliament, there's going to
be members of the opposition that all sort of disagree
to different elements, Like how do we are you, I guess,
(07:13):
are you confident that the work that you and the
remainder of the committee are doing is actually going to
get us to a point where we can finally, you know,
finally introduce voluntary assisted dying in the Northern territory.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Well, my commitment to territories is this, I will engage
in a thorough inquiry, I will produce a thorough report,
we will, if appropriate, produce model provisions for a bill,
and at that point it's up to the government to
decide how they want to proceed, the Government, though has
made clear that if we get to that point, there
will be a conscience vote on this matter. So at
that point it doesn't become a matter of what party
(07:48):
you belong to. It becomes a matter for each individual
member of Parliament to think about where they sit on
the issue and how they feel about a model bill,
how their community feels about it, how their constituency feels
about it. So, for example, I will be engaging in
a broad survey of all of the members of Fong
Limb over the month of August and September, asking my
constituents how do you feel about issues around voluntary cisedining,
(08:10):
so that if we get to a point where we
need to talk about a bill, I'll be armed with
the information to be able to say, well, my constituents
feel this way, and I'll know how I feel about it,
and on the balance of that be able to make
a sensible discision.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And that's exactly I think what people expect their local
member to do is, you know, engage with them to
get a fair understanding of how they feel, and that's
exactly what our local members are elected to do. So absolutely, Yeah, well, look,
I really appreciate your time this morning, and I look
forward to receiving those updates. Tansel Rahman, the member for
Fonglimb and also the chair of the Legal and Constitutional
(08:44):
Affairs Committee, thanks so much for joining us, for having
me again, Katie, thank you
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