Right-to-die bill heads to parliament

The issue of assisted suicide is set to return to federal parliament with the introduction of a private senator's bill.

Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm will seek to repeal a 1997 federal law banning the ACT and Northern Territory from legislating to allow assisted suicide.

Senator Leyonhjelm said it was fundamentally wrong for governments to deny the right to die at the time of a person's choosing.

It was also bad for a "functioning federation" for the commonwealth to inhibit the work of the two territories.

The bill, to be introduced on Wednesday, would not automatically revive the Northern Territory's legislation which was quashed by the 1997 federal bill.

Senator Leyonhjelm said it was central to libertarian values that people had control over their own bodies.

"The notion that the law would prevent you from ending your own life, as regrettable as that may be, is anathema to us," he told AAP.

"The fact that you are too feeble or ill to end your life when you wish to should not preclude you from seeking assistance."

Any person's decision in favour of assisted suicide needed to be independently verified that it was made voluntarily and not under duress.

"The biggest fear people have is they will take advantage of this to get granny bumped off so they can get the house," Senator Leyonhjelm said.

"The safeguard against that is to have independent, objective confirmation that the person knows what they are doing and they are making a voluntary decision."

Several Labor, Greens, coalition and crossbench senators are believed to be in favour of the bill.

A poll taken in March in NSW found 72 per cent of voters agreeing that terminally ill patients should be able to legally end their own lives with medical assistance.