Almost 30 years ago, the Northern Territory made history when it became the first place in Australia — and the world — to legalise voluntary assisted dying.
The move was so radical for its time that it sparked global controversy.
Less than a year later, the groundbreaking legislation was overruled by the then federal government, with a new law that blocked both of Australia's territories from making laws on the issue.
Since then, every Australian state has gone on to legalise voluntary assisted dying, while the NT and Australian Capital Territory have remained barred from doing the same due to their territory status.
Now, after years of fighting for the right to legislate on the issue, on Thursday the Restoring Territory Rights Bill passed federal parliament — removing the decades-long ban.
Let's take a look at how we got here and what's likely to happen next.
When did the NT first legalise euthanasia and what happened?
In 1995, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was passed by the Northern Territory parliament by a slim one-vote majority.
It was enacted into law the following year.
At the time, the move sparked moral and political outrage from some, with opponents predicting it would make the NT the "suicide capital of the world".
In the nine months it was in force, four people died from legal, voluntary lethal injections, the first being Darwin man Bob Dent who was dying from terminal prostate cancer.
"It was absolutely peaceful. It was unbelievable. You could see the pain leave his face," his widow, Judy Dent, told ABC Radio Darwin yesterday.
"It was a lovely way to go."
But the new law didn't last long.
In 1996, then federal Liberal MP Kevin Andrews successfully put forward a bill undoing the legislation and preventing both the NT and ACT from legalising euthanasia in the future.
After decades of no change, in 2021 both territories wrote to senior Commonwealth ministers asking for the ban to be repealed, but their request was denied by then attorney-general Michaelia Cash.
It was also challenged last year by a private member's bill put forward by then NT senator Sam McMahon, but the bill failed to progress past the first debate stage after Ms McMahon lost her seat at the 2022 federal election.
What's happened in other parts of Australia since?
The public and political mood on voluntary assisted dying has changed dramatically since the ban was first put in place.
In the past five years, every state in Australia has passed laws legalising the practice.
The first jurisdiction after the NT to legalise it was Victoria, which passed legislation on the issue in 2017.
Western Australia followed suit in 2019, followed by Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland all in 2021.
New South Wales passed its legislation in May this year.
Laws have already come into force in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania and will take effect in every other state next year.
As one state after another passed their own legislation, there has been a growing focus on the territories' inability to do the same.
Does this mean the NT will now legalise voluntary assisted dying?
The NT Labor government says it supports the legalisation of voluntary assisted dying in principle, but it has also indicated it won't be happening in a hurry.
NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has previously said while community consultation could begin once the Territory Rights Bill passed, a vote may only happen in 2024.
She said that was because any legislation would need "an enormous amount of work", as well as a conscience vote within the NT Labor party.
"I don't anticipate that it will happen this term," she said last week.
The NT's CLP opposition supports the NT's right to make its own laws on the issue, but yesterday party health spokesman Bill Yan would not be drawn on its stance on passing right-to-die legislation.
"If that comes before this parliament, it will require wide consultation with all areas of our community," he said.
While the government and opposition say they support legalisation in principle, there has been some opposition.
The NT's CLP senator, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, faced criticism when she voted against the bill in a preliminary vote last week.
At the time, she said she first wanted to see then yet-to-be-drafted Coalition amendments to make sure children and young people would be protected, and distrusted the NT Labor government's ability to properly consult on the issue.
But last night she voted in support, saying in a statement she had "deliberated thoughtfully" and believed "Territorians deserve the right to consider such a serious matter, and to have a choice like all other states and territories".
What could new laws in the NT look like?
There hasn't yet been any indication of what new legislation on voluntary assisted dying could look like in the Northern Territory.
When asked on Thursday, Ms Fyles said "any future legislation would be done through intensive consultation with all Territorians".
In New South Wales – the most recent state to pass its own laws – a person can only access voluntary assisted dying if they have a disease, illness or medical condition that is "advanced, progressive and will cause death", will likely cause death within six to 12 months, and is causing suffering that can't be relieved in a way "tolerable" to them.
They must also be 18 or older, have "decision-making capacity in relation to voluntary assisted dying", and "be acting voluntarily", and meet certain citizenship or residency criteria.
