Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda

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RESTORING TERRITORY RIGHTS BILL 2022

                    2022-2023-2024


THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA


           HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES




          Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022




           EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
                          and
  STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS




                Circulated by authority of
             Luke Gosling and Alicia Payne




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Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022




OUTLINE

The Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 will remove constraints that the Commonwealth Government placed
on the legislative powers of the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory in 1997.

The bill restores the democratic rights of citizens in the Territories by removing a constraint on the legislative
authority of their elected representatives which does not exist anywhere else in Australia.

The bill recognises that Territorians deserve the same democratic freedoms to debate and legislate around
complex issues like voluntary assisted dying, but it ensures that the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (NT) is not
automatically revivified. This will ensure the Parliaments of both the Northern Territory and the ACT, and the
people they represent, can interrogate the issue in a time and manner of its choosing, with the benefit of recent
legislative work in this area.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

The bill will have no financial impact.

NOTES ON CLAUSES

NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1: Short title

1.      This clause provides for the Act, when enacted, to be cited as the Restoring Territory Rights Act 2022.

Clause 2: Commencement

2.     This clause provides for sections 1 to 3, and anything in the Bill not elsewhere covered by the
commencement table, to commence on the day the Bill receives the Royal Assent, and for the commencement
of Schedule 1 to the Bill 28 days after it receives the Royal Assent.

Clause 3 - Schedules

3.       This clause provides that legislation that is specified in a Schedule to the Bill is amended or repealed
as set out in that Schedule, and any other item in a Schedule operates according to its terms.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Part 1 - Amendments

Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988

Item 1 - Subsections 23(1A) and (1B)

4.      This item repeals subsections 23(1A) and (1B), as inserted by the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997, which
prevented the Australian Capital Territory from enacting voluntary assisted dying legislation.

Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978


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Item 2 - Section 50A

5.     This item repeals section 50A, as inserted by the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997, which prevented the
Northern Territory from enacting voluntary assisted dying legislation and rendered the Rights of the
Terminally Act (NT) inoperative.

Part 2 - Application

Item 3 - Application

6.      Paragraph (1)(a) ensures that the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (NT) remains in effect in relation to
any act or thing done while it was in force before the enactment of the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997.

7.       Paragraph (1)(b) ensures that the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (NT) has no effect in relation to any
act or thing done after it was rendered inoperative.

8.      Subitem (2) ensures that subitem (1) remains on foot unless the Northern Territory legislates to the
contrary after the commencement of this item.




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                    STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

    Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

                                Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022

      This bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the bill

The bill restores the democratic rights of citizens in the Territories by removing a constraint on the
legislative authority of their elected representatives which does not exist anywhere else in Australia.

Human rights implications

This bill advances the human rights of citizens in the Northern Territory and Australian Capital
Territory by removing a constraint on the legislative authority of their elected parliaments that does
not exist elsewhere in Australia.

Conclusion

This bill does not raise any human rights issues and advances the democratic rights of citizens of
the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory.



Luke Gosling and Alicia Payne




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