Nova Peris

Nova Maree Peris (25 February 1971—) is an Aboriginal Australian athlete and former politician. 

Born in Darwin, Northern Territory, Peris was the first Indigenous Australian female athlete to win Olympic gold, in 1996 as a member of the Hockeyroos. She then switched codes to sprinting and attended the Commonwealth games in 1998 and the Olympics in 2000. 

In 2013, then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard invited Peris to join the Labor Party and named her as a "captain's pick," installing her as a preselected candidate. Peris was elected to the Australian Senate as Senator for the Northern Territory later in 2013.

As Senator, Peris was strongly pro-euthanasia, saying she was a proud supporter of the right to choose to die with dignity (Warne, 2016). She was chosen as part of the committee that investigated the Greens' draft Dying with Dignity bill in 2014 (La Canna, 2014).

Peris was one of a group of Federal MPs that introduced the Restoring Territory Rights bill to Federal Parliament in early 2016. The bill was an attempt to undo laws passed in 1997 that effectively overrode the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws and prevented any Territory from legislating on the issue (Oaten, 2016).

She retired from politics at the 2016 election.

(via Wikipedia)

Denton, A. (2003, March 31). Enough Rope with Andrew Denton: Episode 3, Nova Peris [radio broadcast transcript]. Archived from the original at https://web.archive.org/web/20160701131229/https://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s822569.htm

La Canna, X. (2014, July 22).Lobby group hits out at Peris over euthanasia comments. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/euthanasia-peris/5615570

Oaten, J. (2016, February 29). Group of Federal MPs seek to restore rights of NT, ACT to legalise voluntary euthanasia. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-29/group-federal-mps-seek-restore-rights-nt-voluntary-euthanasia/7209072

Warne, P. (2016, February 29). Private member's bill seeks to legalise territory euthanasia. The West Australian. https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/private-members-bill-seeks-to-legalise-territory-euthanasia-ng-ya-326354