Voluntary assisted dying is set to become legal in the ACT with all government members expected to support the bill when debate begins on Thursday.
All Labor and Greens members have confirmed they will vote in favour of voluntary assisted dying with no plans, at this stage, to move amendments but the Liberals have refused to confirm their positions.
Debate on the bill is expected to continue into the next sitting period in early June with the government eager to pass the laws in the first half of the year.
If the bill passes by the end of June voluntary assisted dying will be available for Canberrans by the end of next year with an 18-month implementation period in place.
Each member of the Legislative Assembly was asked if they would vote in favour of voluntary assisted dying and whether they intended to move any amendments.
Every Labor member confirmed they would vote in favour of the bill.
ACT Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne, who put forward the bill, is expected to move amendments to the bill in response to an inquiry but no other Labor member has plans to move amendments at this stage.
"Substantive amendments can be broadly categorised into eligibility, process, health practitioners, facility operators, oversight and compliance and miscellaneous," she said.
"I will move these amendments during the detail stage of the debate, expected to be in the first week of the June sittings and, unsurprisingly, I will be voting in favour of these amendments."
All Greens members will vote in favour of the bill and they are not planning to move amendments but will vote in favour of the government's amendments.
The Greens are on a unity ticket on the issue of voluntary assisted dying.
"All ACT Greens MLAs will be voting for the legislation because we believe people should have the right to die with dignity, how and when they choose," Greens member Andrew Braddock said.
"We will not be moving any amendments but government amendments are being prepared based on community consultation and the ACT Greens will be supporting these amendments."
None of the Liberals revealed their position, with a spokesman issuing a statement saying the matter was a conscience vote.
"The issue of voluntary assisted dying is a conscience issue for the Canberra Liberals," the spokesman said.
"Every Liberal MLA will consider the bill including the government's amendments and vote according to their conscience."
Members will be speaking on voluntary assisted dying on Thursday with the voting intentions of some Liberal members to become clear.
Under the ACT's proposed legislation a person can access voluntary assisted dying if they have an advanced terminal condition. Unlike other jurisdictions, the territory won't require people to have an expected timeframe to death.
An inquiry into the bill said clearer terminology was needed to determine who is eligible for voluntary assisted dying, including a better definition of what it means to have an advanced terminal condition.
Definitions of advanced are included in Ms Cheyne's amendments.
The ACT was blocked from legislating on voluntary assisted dying for 25 years. The Federal Parliament implemented this ban on the territories after the Northern Territory introduced legislation in 1995.
This ban was overturned in late-2022.
"With the existence of an undemocratic ban on the territories being able to legislate for voluntary assisted dying, for decades the ACT and our Legislative Assembly were only able to move inches on the issue," Ms Cheyne said.
"The election of a federal Labor government paved the way for our government being able to move mountains - providing our community with the opportunity to inform the development of a progressive, workable scheme for the ACT without compromising on timeframes.
"Debate commencing today brings us another step forward to a voluntary assisted dying scheme in the ACT."
