The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) announced its state legislative assembly passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Act of 2023 into law, effective in November 2025.
The new law will set out a government framework to provide eligible Canberrans the right to make end-of-life choices.
The features of the law include strict eligibility, safeguards that ensure well-informed consent and protection of vulnerable individuals, and high-quality palliative care for all Canberrans.
It will also ensure upholding the right of healthcare professionals to conscientiously object in participating to voluntary-assisted dying, and establish a VAD Oversight Board to monitor the implementation of the said law and ensure compliance.
“The passing of this legislation is a victory for democratic rights and human rights, and the result of a campaign more than a decade in the making. It’s the result of years of advocacy for equal rights—and I thank every Canberran who has supported the journey that has concluded today,” ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
According to legislative records, the first VAD bill was proposed in ACT in 1993, but was rejected by the select committee because it was seen as “inopportune” during that time.
The passage of the VAD law comes after the federal Parliament decided to overturn the 25-year ban on euthanasia laws in the ACT and the Northern Territory (NT).
Victoria passed its own VAD in 2018, followed by Western Australia in 2019, and Tasmania in 2021. The NT will be left as the last jurisdiction that has not legalised euthanasia, with the latest passage of the VAD in the ACT.
“The Canberra community has spent decades fighting for the right to legislate for voluntary assisted dying,” ACT Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne said.
“Today might be the end of a very long chapter—but it launches us into the beginning of a new, even more important one, as implementation gets underway.”
The ACT government said that the passage of VAD is a significant moment.
“We will continue to work closely with healthcare providers, community organisations and the public to ensure this new law provides a compassionate and dignified end-of-life option for those who choose it,” Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.
A 2021 Australia Institute survey showed that one out of 10 Australians disagree with euthanasia in principle.
Euthanasia Is Suicide: Judge
Meanwhile, in November 2023, a judge from the Federal Court of Australia said the definition of euthanasia was the same as suicide according to natural law.“Voluntary assisted dying, while a means carefully regulated and a societally approved means of a person intentionally taking their own life, remains a means of a person taking their own life,” Justice Wendy Abraham said.
Justice Abraham made the comment in a judgement where she ruled that doctors who provide remote euthanasia consultations will face criminal charges.
This made it illegal to provide any information on euthanasia that could encourage someone to take their life through the phone, internet, or email.
The judge noted that in the Criminal Code provisions, introduced in 2005, suicide “simply referred to the intentional taking of one’s own life, regardless of the circumstances in which that occurred.”
