Crimes Act

Clause

3.

Punishment for murder

Notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary, a person convicted of murder is liable to -
(a) level 1 imprisonment; or
(b) imprisonment for such other term as is fixed by the court - as the court determines.

5.

Punishment of manslaughter

Whosoever is convicted of manslaughter shall be liable to level 3 imprisonment or to a fine in addition to or without any such other punishment as aforesaid.

6A.

Suicide no longer a crime

The rule of law whereby it is a crime for a person to commit or to attempt to commit suicide is hereby abrogated.

6B.

Survivor of suicide pact who kills deceased party is guilty of manslaughter

(1) Where upon the trial of a person for the murder of another person the jury are satisfied that the accused caused or was a party to causing the death of that other person by a wilful act or omission but are satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the act was done or the omission made in pursuance of a suicide pact then the jury shall, notwithstanding that the circumstances were such that but for the provisions of this section they might have returned a verdict of murder, return a verdict of manslaughter in lieu thereof.

(1A) Despite section 5, a person convicted of manslaughter under sub-section (1) is only liable to level 6 imprisonment.

(2) Any person who-
(a) incites any other person to commit suicide and that other person commits or attempts to commit suicide in consequence thereof; or
(b)aids or abets any other person in the commission of suicide or in an attempt to commit suicide-
shall be guilty of an indictable offence and liable to be level 7 imprisonment; but if the jury are satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the acts constituting the offence were done pursuant to a suicide pact the jury shall return a verdict of guilty of the indictable offence of being a party to a suicide pact and the convicted person shall be liable to level 8 imprisonment.

(3) The fact that by virtue of this section any person who in pursuance of a suicide pact has killed another person has not been or is not liable to be convicted of murder shall not affect the question of whether the homicide amounted to murder in the case of a third person who is a party to the homicide and is not a party to the suicide pact.

(4)For the purposes of this section "suicide pact" means an agreement between two or more persons having for its object the death of all of them whether or not each is to take his own life; but nothing done by a person who enters into a suicide pact shall be treated as done by him in pursuance of the pact unless it is done while he has the settled intention of dying in pursuance of the pact.

463a.

Prevention of suicide

Every person is justified in using such force as may reasonably be necessary to prevent the commission of suicide or of any act which he believes on reasonable grounds would, if committed, amount to suicide.

"After a few months, he (my father) began to ask my mother and myself if we could help him to end his life. We understood his feelings – we wept .... I have always regretted that I failed to end his suffering. I used to lie awake at night and think “I wouldn’t let a dog suffer like this”.....It is because I have such vivid memories of this tragedy that I support the aims and work of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Victoria."

June Halls