Key senators back government proposal to empower territories to legislate on euthanasia

Key senators will support a government push to let territories make their own laws on voluntary assisted dying, with two Labor backbenchers set to introduce the bill in the first weeks of the new parliament.

ACT senator David Pocock supported the change and planned to introduce his own bill. The Greens have also strongly backed the reform.

Labor needs the support of all 12 Greens senators, plus at least one crossbencher, to pass legislation in the Senate. But a potential conscience vote changes the standard parliamentary arithmetic, which usually splits along party lines.

Lambie, who was not in parliament at the time of the 2018 Leyonhjelm bill, also backed the change.

Tyrrell, newly elected at the May poll, said she too was in favour.

NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy, the assistant minister for Indigenous Australians and Indigenous health, said the change was overdue.

Teeshan Johnson, executive director of anti-abortion lobby group Cherish Life, said it would oppose the legislation.