Voluntary Assisted Dying Campaign

Oct 4

Everyone deserves dignity in death

We support voluntary assisted dying laws which allow terminally ill people the choice to end their lives with medical assistance, as long as that decision has been made free from coercion and subject to strict safeguards.

Humanists Australia believes everyone should be able to live freely and make their own choices, as long as it does no harm to others. We strongly believe in personal autonomy and believe that nobody who has made an informed, non-coerced decision to end their own life should suffer unnecessarily.

Unlike most religious people, humanists do not believe in any god or deity who is the final arbiter in deciding when a person should die, and that interference in the course of nature is somehow unnatural or unacceptable. It should not be up to religious or church groups to impinge on people’s individual choices about how they live their life, including controlling their end-of-life decisions. Terminally ill people should not be forced to suffer.

Latest News on VAD

VAD Legislation passes in the ACT

Humanists Australia is thrilled that the ACT has passed legislation to support Voluntary Assisted Dying. This has been a long fought campaign for ACT Humanists, and will make VAD available to ACT residents from November 2025, after an eighteen month implementation period. Read more…

Kate Chaney introduces Private Member’s Bill to protect VAD doctors from prosecution

“In recent years, telehealth has helped vastly improve access to health services, especially in regional and remote Australia. It is now considered an integral part of our health care delivery, except when it comes to end of life care.
“Decades ago, this section was inserted to prevent a person from causing another to take their own life. As an unintended and unfortunate consequence, it is now preventing eligible patients from accessing legal end-of-life options, simply because of where they live.
“I have heard heartbreaking stories of terminally ill people travelling long distances in agony to see a doctor in person, or both doctor and patient travelling for hours to have a consultation halfway in a carpark. VAD practitioners are being forced to choose between compassionate and convenient care for their patients and the risk of being prosecuted.
“There is broad support for the legislative amendment outlined in my PMB – from medical practitioners, patient support groups, and State Attorneys-General across Australia. I’m now calling on the Federal Government to show compassion to people who can’t access treatment options that are easily available to those living in major centres.
“The Commonwealth Criminal Code in its current form is neither fair nor equitable. But that can be easily set right if the Parliament passes this Bill.”

— Kate Chaney MP, February 2024

Support Kate's Bill

ACT VAD Legislation introduced October 2023

The ACT Government has introduced a Voluntary Assisted Dying bill. As recommended by Humanists Australia's submission on VAD to the ACT Government, the bill would allow people who are experiencing intolerable suffering but who have not been given a time frame for life expectancy to access VAD.

What’s the context in Australia?

Voluntary assisted dying laws, also known as voluntary euthanasia, have been passed in Victoria, WA, Tasmania, South Australia, New Zealand, Queensland and NSW. There is overwhelming public support for VAD in Australia – around 80% support VAD.

And we did it! With our voices added to the chorus demanding change, the right to set their own laws has been restored to ACT and NT. The Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction in Australia to allow voluntary assisted deaths in 1995 – also a world leader at the time. Then, in 1997, Liberal MP Kevin Andrews’s Euthanasia Laws Act barred the ACT, NT and Norfolk Island legislatures from making rules around assisted dying. In December 2022, a bipartisan vote in the Senate overturned the so-called “Andrews law”.

What we’re doing

We have joined with others to add our voice to the overwhelming public support for voluntary assisted dying. We will continue to monitor developments around Australia as well as provide our support to ongoing campaigns on this issue. There is still work to be done to ensure existing laws and processes are amended where necessary to make VAD an accessible end-of-life option for all those facing intolerable suffering.

All the Dying with Dignity state bodies, as well as Go Gentle Australia and others, are very actively involved in this work and we will provide our support in whatever ways will assist them most with their campaigns.

Victoria was the first state to pass these laws and Dying with Dignity Victoria (DWDV) is contributing a submission to the parliamentary review, taking place in 2023, of the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017. We invited our members and subscribers to submit responses to DWDV’s survey about their experiences and perceptions of VAD in Victoria, to assist them with their submission recommending amendments to the current Act.