Thirty-nine-year-old Sam Whitsed was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after finding a lump in his neck about six months ago.
The diagnosis came out of the blue.
"My world turned upside down overnight it is impossible to describe what it is like," he said.
Mr Whitsed said when he was told by doctors that his cancer was incurable, he thought it was "ridiculous" that voluntary assisted dying would not be available to him when his condition got worse.
"There is a lot of suffering I would be willing to go through if I could come out the other side of it, but as I know I have no chance, the suffering seems pointless," he said.
"I find it ridiculous that we do not give our citizens the same dignity that we give our animals."
Mr Whitsed said while voluntary assisted dying was available to Australians in other jurisdictions, he wanted Canberrans with terminal illnesses to have the ability to choose when they died.
"It's an option that should be available. If you don't agree with it personally, then that's fine, don't do it, but the option should be available."
Mr Whitsed said not only would he like voluntary assisted dying to be an option for his own sake, but he also worried about the impact his future suffering would have on his family.
"I do not want to put them through that," he said.
'Challenging to see my dad go through that'
In 2006, Katarina Pavkovic's father, Nesha, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
As his condition deteriorated, Ms Pavkovic said that because he did not have access to voluntary assisted dying, her father took matters into his own hands.
"Essentially he starved himself to death, so my personal circumstance was quite challenging to see my dad go through that."
Her father died on his birthday 10 years after his diagnosis, in 2016, and the experience has had a lasting effect on Ms Pavkovic's family.
"What this has led to now is me trying to get the story out there to let people know there are people like my dad who suffered so tremendously and there is a much better way," she said.
'This is not a debate that can wait'
Independent Senate candidate David Pocock has promised, if elected, to move a private senator's bill to try and restore the ACT's right to debate and legislate on the issue.
"Tragically, for some in our community, this is not a debate that can wait," Mr Pocock said.
A bill passed in federal parliament in 1997 prevents both the ACT and the NT to legislate on assisted dying.
In March last year, both jurisdictions wrote to senior Commonwealth ministers asking for the ban to be repealed, but in October the request was denied by Attorney-General Michaelia Cash.
"The government believes that people should have access to quality palliative care and relief from pain and suffering and that, where possible, people should be able to choose the extent of active medical treatment they receive," Ms Cash wrote in a return letter to the two territory governments.
"The underlying principle of the government's investment in health services is quality of life, including during end-of-life care."
But Mr Pocock said whether the ACT allowed for voluntary assisted dying should be a decision for the Legislative Assembly.
"My bill will not be an invitation for the parliament to debate voluntary assisted dying —that conversation should be for the people of the ACT alone.
"My bill will only invite the parliament to consider whether the territories should continue to be regarded as second-class citizens or whether they should have the autonomy to consider this issue for themselves."
Labor says it would 'facilitate a vote in both houses'
Labor senator Katy Gallagher said that while she welcomed "any attempt to improve territory rights and to address this issue", there was more to the process than just putting a bill to parliament.
"Whilst David Pocock's idea is fine ... I've been there and I've moved a private senator's bill," she said.
She said Labor was committed to dealing with this debate in its first term.
"We have a commitment from Anthony Albanese that he would facilitate a vote in both houses of parliament to ensure that they did have a say and that we were able to campaign hard to restore territory rights and then let the assembly debate the issue of voluntary euthanasia," she said.
In a statement, the ACT Greens said the party believed "ACT citizens, just like all Australians, should have the same right to make choices about their own life and death".
"Between 2006 and 2016, the Australian Greens have introduced eight bills to federal parliament seeking to restore the rights of territories to legislate on voluntary euthanasia. The closest we got was August 2018, where the legislation was defeated by two votes," the spokesman said.
"In response, the ACT Greens MLAs proudly stood with a majority of ACT parliamentarians to remonstrate with the 36 federal senators who opposed the rights of territories to make their own decisions."
Liberal senator Zed Seselja was contacted by the ABC for comment. His office said his views on voluntary assisted dying were clear and had not changed.
Senator Seselja has previously said he would not support overturning the bill that prevents territories from legislating for what he describes as "assisted suicide".
He said he welcomed a broader discussion about a territory rights bill but had so far rejected it because it had only been introduced in regard to voluntary assisted dying.
