Former Northern Territory chief minister Marshall Perron sees euthanasia for those too old to enjoy life

The architect of the world’s first-ever euthanasia laws is predicting voluntary assisted dying will one day be expanded to cover those who are simply too old to enjoy life or are in constant pain.

July 1 this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Northern Territory becoming the first place in the world to allow euthanasia.

Since 2023, every state has passed laws allowing VAD for those suffering from a terminal illness.

NSW became Australia’s final state to introduce euthanasia that has been accessed by the likes of former ABC broadcaster and saxophonist James Valentine last week and actor Lex Marinos in 2024.

Marshall Perron, the former NT chief minister who introduced the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in 1995, is predicting every state and territory will one day legislate to allow euthanasia for non-terminal illnesses that make life unbearable.

“Eventually, I believe, yes in my view now that the door has been opened to voluntary assisted dying in a very restricted form,” he told The Nightly.

“Over time and experience, and with a huge, huge community support for these sorts of initiatives, eventually the politicians will be reluctantly dragged kicking and screaming to the altar once again to modify the laws and free them up.

“Now, whether that takes years or decades, I can’t say but I have to say that I can’t see it being reversed unless there is some extraordinary revival of ancient religion and its disciplines, which I can’t see on the horizon myself in the general community like the Australian community.”

For the 84-year-old former Country Liberal Party leader, simply being too old to enjoy life, without having a terminal illness, would be grounds to access euthanasia provided there was no coercion or manipulation from someone standing to gain an inheritance.

“I am a believer that a human can reach a stage of life where life has no further meaning and that they would prefer to slip away quietly,” he said.

“I’m a believer that a completed life could be included in the eligibility criteria.”

Having quadriplegia or a severe neurological like locked-in syndrome should also be grounds for euthanasia, he argued.

“Locked-in syndrome is one of those diseases where you can be just totally terrified of your existence,” Mr Perron said.

“You could be completely competent, of course, by way of communication - just unable to communicate other than by blinking your eyes.

“Another one is cases of severe quadriplegia where people are spending their lives basically staring at the ceiling.”

Muscular dystrophies, breathing diseases, Parkinsons disease, chronic pain conditions and a connective tissue and autoimmune disease like scleroderma would also make the list of non-terminal illnesses.

Mr Perron, who hails from the conservative side of politics, blamed former Liberal prime minister John Howard for giving the late Federal backbencher Kevin Andrews in 1997 the cover to introduce a private member’s bill to overturn the NT’s euthanasia laws.

“It was John Howard who, as we understand it, encouraged the parliamentary Liberal Party room that if anyone wanted to do anything about the Northern Territory’s step into voluntary euthanasia, they should feel free to do so,” he said.

Mr Andrews, a devout Catholic, died of prostate cancer in 2024.

“I presume, as a devout Catholic, that he found consolation in his faith,” Mr Perron said.

Valentine’s daughter Ruby last week told ABC Radio about how her father wanted to finish his life on his own terms, two years after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.

“In his final moments, he was still concerned about making a difference and that was something that was so important to him,” she said.

“We knew it was coming, we knew there was no way out of this but to be able to do it on his own terms was really important to him and to get that choice as much as he could in this time.

“He wanted it to be something that people knew that he did, that he could lend his voice to the argument of why this is such a necessary thing for so many people.”

Since Victoria allowed euthanasia in 2019, more than 7000 people have died by a voluntary assisted dying, with 14,000 people applying, Go Gentle Australia’s State of VAD report revealed last month.

The typical VAD application is in their 70s, has terminal cancer and is receiving palliative care.