THE ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a euthanasia amendment, but has been forced to sit idly by and watch Tasmania enact voluntary-assisted dying laws.

The Tasmanian parliament voted in favour of the End of Life Choices bill following a late-night sitting in its Legislative Council on Tuesday.

It was the fourth attempt from the parliament to pass state dying laws in Tasmania.

But it has led ACT Minister for Human Rights Tara Cheyne to believe the territory has been deliberately left behind on the debate.

“I welcomed the news that Tasmania has legalised voluntary assisted dying,” she said in a statement.

“However, it is another stark reminder that the ACT and Northern Territory cannot even debate legalising voluntary-assisted dying in our parliaments.”

Tasmania has joined Victoria and Western Australia to legalise the act of euthanasia for any persons suffering from a terminal illness to have the right to end their life.

Renewed debate has begun in the South Australian parliament, Queensland has plans to discuss it further while a bill is set to be introduced in the New South Wales parliament.

But after Northern Territory was the first Australian jurisdiction to pass a bill back in 1995 in favour of voluntary-assisted dying laws, it has shut down the legislative actions of the ACT since the Commonwealth dismissed putting the controversial amendment into affect.

“ACT and NT residents deserve the same chance as citizens in the states to have our say on this important issue, too, but federal legislation continues to ban our parliaments from doing so,” Ms Cheyne said.

The federal government of the day maintains the authority of the two territories to overturn local laws.

Both territory governments have dually written to their federal counterparts to restore their rights to legislate on the issue that has also led the ACT to consider full self-governance.

Federal Liberal ACT Senator Zed Seselja recently was an outspoken critic of the territory cutting ties with the Commonwealth to overturn the parliament that opposes euthanasia.

The Labor member for Ginninderra has suggested federal parliamentary rights breaches the human rights obligations of the territories to implement its own law.

“The ACT government urges the federal government to restore our territory rights – and end this needless, senseless treatment of citizens within its own country as second-class,” Ms Cheyne said.

“All it would take is a simple legislative change that costs nothing, but would mean so much.”