The debate surrounding the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia has reappeared on the Federal Government's agenda this month, as Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown announced he will seek to have legislation, which prevents the country's territories from legalising euthanasia, overturned.

As always, the debate raises convincing arguments for and against the legalisation of euthanasia, including the protection of individual rights and autonomy, choice, compassion, death with dignity, sanctity of life and the fears of a "slippery slope" effect.

The controversial debate has re-emerged this time as Australia's television industry regulator, Free TV Australia, banned Exit International's pro-euthanasia advertisement just days before it was due to air, reigniting calls for the recognition of human rights and freedom of speech, and highlighting the need for federal parliament to take another look at the issue.

In 2010, voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide remains illegal in all states and territories of Australia but, almost 15 years ago, the Northern Territory (NT) government came incredibly close to making history.

In 1995 the NT government enacted the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (RTI), becoming the first place in the world to enact laws legalising voluntary euthanasia.

The controversial act, which came into effect in 1996, allowed a doctor, in defined circumstances, to comply with a request from a patient that the doctor end the patient's life or assist the patient to end his or her own life.

But despite the territory's ground-breaking decision, in 1996 federal MP Kevin Andrews introduced a private member's bill - the Euthanasia Laws Bill - to override the territory's legislation, just before it was due to come into effect.

Andrews argued that the Commonwealth had the power to override the act and the responsibility to do so, as it affected all Australians. He said the act had been passed by a "small territory with the population of a suburban municipality in Melbourne or Sydney, by one vote, without any house of reviews, without attempting to state why a law rejected by every major inquiry in the world was proper and in the face of universal opposition from its Aboriginal populations..."

He also claimed that the people most at risk under the act were the most vulnerable and a law which fails to protect vulnerable people will always be a bad law, rejecting the argument that the act facilitated personal autonomy.

Andrews' bill was passed, removing the power of Australia's territories to enact laws which "permit or have the effect of permitting the form of intentional killing of another called euthanasia (which includes mercy killing) or the assisting of a person to terminate his or her life".

As a result, the RTI Act no longer had any effect, although four people used the laws to die before they were overturned.

It is this Commonwealth ban that Senator Brown is seeking to have overturned, having first moved, unsuccessfully, the Restoring Territory Rights (Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation) back in 2008.

"[The bill] was a taking away of the democratic rights of the people of the two territories," he told Network Ten.

Brown said it is now his top priority to have the Commonwealth's legislation repealed and that he will use the first extended private members time in the new parliament to re-introduce a bill to extend territory rights and legalise euthanasia.

"My bill would restore the right of territory parliaments to pass laws that would allow terminally ill people to choose a death with dignity," he explained.

"That right was taken away under the Howard Government. While this bill is about territory rights, a huge majority of Australians support voluntary euthanasia and it is time for federal parliament to openly debate the issue."

In response to Senator Brown's proposal, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said she will allow a conscience vote amongst federal MPs.

"The Labor Party has previously allowed MPs to express their views on this issue with a conscience vote and if, as a result of these discussions, a conscience vote is called for, there is no reason why MPs would not be afforded this opportunity again," a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Gillard said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Critical of Gillard's response to calls for a conscience vote, Andrews told ABC's The World Today: "What we are seeing here is that the Green tail is wagging the Labor dog, under this Government ... I think they are manipulating the process."

Also dismissing the recent debate, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott suggested that the Government should concentrate on more pressing issues than overturning the Commonwealth's territory ban. "I'm not denying that there are concerns that people have in this area, but I think that we need a parliament which focuses on bread and butter concerns," Abbott said.

Meanwhile, as the euthanasia debate now takes place on a national stage, the country's states are putting forward their own case for the legalisation of euthanasia.

This month, Victorian Labor MP Maxine Morand called for new parliamentary debate on euthanasia following the state's November election, while Western Australia debated the topic for the first time, submitting a bill on 20 September only to have it rejected three days later.

New South Wales and South Australia have also put bills before parliament, and Tasmania recently announced its intention to push for euthanasia laws once more.

With a Federal Government conscience vote now on the cards, the possibility of state or Commonwealth legislation legalising euthanasia is back in the spotlight, bringing to light once again the question surrounding the powers of the Commonwealth to abolish the rights of the territories to legislate.

But while there is the possibility that the Federal Government may return the power to legislate, with respect to euthanasia, to the territories, it remains to be seen whether the current state and territory governments will pass legislation and legalise euthanasia in Australia.