Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said that the overwhelming technicalities surrounding the legalisation of euthanasia seem "almost impossible" to navigate, but she is still open to debating the issue.
The issue was brought up when the Australian Greens began the push to give terminally ill people in the NT or the ACT the right to die, as one of the parties top priorities.
Ms Gillard has promised Labor MPs a conscience vote on the issue, but said today she had some of her own reservations.
"I find it almost impossible to conceptualise how there would be appropriate steps and safeguards," she told Network Ten.
"Intellectually, people should be able to make their own decision, but I find it very hard to conceptualise how we would have the sort of safeguards that we would need if we did say that euthanasia was legal."
According to a News Limited poll published earlier in the week, approximately four out of five Australians would like the federal government to allow the territories to legalise euthanasia.
Ms Gillard said it was a matter for individuals, "not looking at the newspaper polls".
She has reserved her final decision until she has seen the full details of the Greens' proposed bill.
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