Statehood for NT?
The Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction in Australia to allow terminally ill patients to choose when to end their lives, but at the time the Federal Government was not impressed. So it overturned the legislation in May of 1997 – a luxury it wouldn’t have had if the Northern Territory was a state. Despite this, and other instances of Federal Government interference, last time they were asked in 1998, those in the top end voted against a referendum to make the Northern Territory a state. But the issue refuses to go away. Tomorrow in Canberra, the House of Representatives Committee will hold a public meeting to address the issue of Northern Territory statehood. Federal Member for Fisher Peter Slipper is the committee’s Chairman and he says that the Northern Territory needs to decide exactly what sort of statehood it wants.