Politicians from both sides of politics have slammed Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for voting against a bill which would allow the NT government to make laws about euthanasia.
The Country Liberal Party (CLP) senator has swung against her own party's long-held policy platform to cast a preliminary vote against the Territory Rights bill in federal parliament.
The bill, which looks likely to pass after a final vote next week, would overturn a quarter of a century veto which bans the NT and ACT governments from voting on whether or not to allow voluntary assisted dying in their jurisdictions.
The Territory Rights bill does not legalise voluntary assisted dying in the NT.
Senator Price said she wanted to see yet-to-be-drafted Coalition amendments made before the final vote, which she said were needed to protect children and young people.
"There's just a few provisions that I think need to be considered," Senator Price told ABC Radio Darwin on Friday morning.
"For example, protecting children under the age of 18 with regard to euthanasia — that's what the amendment will be drafted around."
She also cited her distrust of the current NT government as a reason for voting against the bill, pointing to Labor's handling of the sudden end to remote alcohol bans which have corresponded with an increase in alcohol-related violence and harm.
Senator Price said her position on the bill may have been different if the CLP was in power in the NT.
"Absolutely I would trust them more to do the right thing to consult communities on the ground," she said.
Current and former politicians lash out at delay
Current and former NT politicians have criticised the senator's move, arguing she has gone against the wishes of the majority of Territorians and her own party.
Sam McMahon, who sat in the Senate during the last term of parliament for the CLP and then as an independent, branded her successor's decision as "an outrageous act of treachery".
"This is nothing more than an act of outright treachery from a self-centred person who does not have and never will have the interests of Territorians at heart," Dr McMahon said in a statement.
"Her position is a contradiction to the policy position of the CLP and demonstrates clearly they treat Territorians with absolute contempt."
NT Police Minister Kate Worden described the choice to vote against the bill as "disgusting".
"Absolutely shame on Jacinta Price," Ms Worden said.
"She is a voice for the Northern Territory, she should be standing up for our rights to make our own decisions.
"I'm absolutely appalled that she has no capacity to think beyond her self and her self-interest and the eastern seaboard."
Regardless of Senator Price's vote, the Territory Rights bill looks likely to pass next week, with the outcome of the preliminary vote on Thursday fielding 41 in support and 25 against.
Price clarifies reasons in later statement
In a statement released Friday afternoon, Senator Price said she continued to support the "rights of Territorians, all Territorians".
She said it was her "duty as a senator to ensure that this bill will uphold the human rights of children, in accordance with the United Nations Convention of the Human Rights of the Child, along with vulnerable Territorians with a disability or mental impairment".
"My decision to vote against the second reading of the bill in its current form was to provide the opportunity to make amendments to the bill that will uphold these rights and to improve the bill in its current form," she said.
She didn't specify whether she would vote for the bill if any such amendments were made, but did suggest she didn't believe it went far enough.
"I note that there is nothing in this bill which advances my long-term aim of actual equivalent rights to statehood and full autonomy for the Territory from the Commonwealth," she said.
Senator Price's mother, Bess Price, was a minister for statehood in the previous NT government.
