Alicia Payne, Luke Gosling territory rights bill to allow debate on voluntary assisted dying passes key Senate vote

Alicia Payne and Luke Gosling's private members' bill passed the crucial second reading stage 41 votes to 25 on Thursday morning.

An attempt to bring on a final vote on the bill failed as the hour set aside for the process expired before it could be finalised.

This means the final vote is expected to be next Thursday night.

But the outcome of the second reading vote demonstrates, barring last-minute changes of heart from a large number of senators, the Andrews Bill will be repealed and the campaign to restore territory rights will succeed.

The final vote is expected to be closer as a number of senators opposed to the bill were absent on Thursday morning.

"This is a historic moment for the territories," ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher said after the vote on Thursday.

"This has been something that I have been fighting for over a decade when I was chief minister of the ACT."

ACT independent David Pocock attempted to bring on a final vote by cutting short the so-called "committee stage" of the process, where senators can ask questions of a minister about the bill.

But it failed, in part because Labor voted against it.

Ms Gallagher said it was Labor policy debate wouldn't be guillotined on conscience votes such as this.

Senators who oppose the bill fought to delay a final vote, arguing more time was needed to consider amendments.

But the "no" camp has conceded defeat, accepting the territory rights bill would pass before the sitting fortnight is out.

"It is clear that the numbers mean ... territory rights will be restored," Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam said.

The private members' bill would repeal the John Howard-era Andrews Bill, which quashed the NT's world-first assisted dying regime and prevented the territories from legislating on it in the future.

"In 2022 our democracy is not equal because some Australians don't have the right to debate a certain issue because of where they live," Alicia Payne, the Canberra MP, said.

After numerous attempts to overturn the ban in the past two decades, the Payne-Gosling bill is seen to represent the best chance of ending a ban that critics argue has turned ACT and NT residents into "second-class citizens".

All states have passed assisted dying laws since Victoria become the first in 2017.

MORE TERRITORY RIGHTS COVERAGE:

Senator Gallagher earlier this week made an iron-clad guarantee the territory rights bill would be voted on in the final sitting fortnight of the year.

Territory rights was initially set to be relegated to the final order of business next Friday, as the Albanese government prioritised the passage of its contentious industrial relations shake-up and a bill to establish a national anti-corruption watchdog.

Senator Pocock was concerned with that approach and pushed for a rethink.

The key crossbencher feared some his colleagues might be tempted to leave early on Friday after a long fortnight in Canberra, potentially putting the chances of overturning the so-called Andrews Bill at risk.

"My concern with leaving territory rights to the end is, given how much there is currently in the Senate, you can imagine a real logjam," he told reporters on Tuesday morning.

"I don't want it to get caught up."

Senator Gallagher eventually agreed to change the plans, moving the territory rights debate forward to late Thursday afternoon.

More to come.