Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 from the federal parliament. Consequently, the federal parliament retains the right to legislate for the territory, including the right to territory laws. In practice, it very rarely exercised that right. On 25 March 1997, the federal parliament passed the "Euthanasia Laws Act 1997", which, although not technically repealing the "Rights of the Terminally Ill Act", for all practical purposes rendered it of no legal effect. Rather than repeal the Act directly, the law instead amended the "Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978", the act under which the Commonwealth Parliament has delegated legislative power to the Northern Territory Parliament—effectively the territory's "constitution"
Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 or by procurement of drugs. The Act set out a somewhat lengthy application process, designed to ensure that a patient was both mentally competent to make the decision and in fact terminally ill. Under the Act: Those who assist in the ending of a person's life under the Act were immune from prosecution or other legal consequences if acting in good faith. (Sections 16 and 20). The passage of the Bill—one of the first of its kind in the world—provoked a furor in Australia, and indeed in much of the rest of the world. The Act received both widespread support