Frank Brennan

Euthanasia and the potential adverse effects for Northern Territory Aborigines

Before this vote, the Act had been amended by the Northern Territory Parliament and challenged by a repeal bill in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. The High Court of Australia adjourned a challenge to the Northern Territory law until the national Australian parliament debated and voted on the bill to over-ride Northern Territory law. An analysis of the experience of the Northern Territory is pertinent because it shows the type of problems and concerns encountered as one multicultural region attempts to resolve this conflict. The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act allowed a medical practitioner to terminate a patient’s life, subject to certain guidelines. The controversies about the Act related to the process by which it was formulated, the imprecision of the legislation despite multiple amendments and its failure to protect vulnerable groups from potential abuse, the problems related to the ethics of euthanasia, the conflict between an individual’s choice and the public interest, and medical and sociopolitical considerations. The traditional Aboriginal viewpoint, which prohibits euthanasia, was rejected by the Northern Territory Parliament as an argument against the Act at a time when there was heightened concern in Australia about Aboriginal self-determination and health. The ethics of allocation of resources to euthanasia in a community that has challenging health-status indicators, and the risk of further alienation of this community from the health-care system by this legislation are also concerns. The estimated population of the Northern Territory (172 100) is the smallest population of all the Australian states or territories. 4 It has the highest proportional