SUMMARY – VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Amendments have been made to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017, to make VAD more accessible and aligned with other Australian jurisdictions. These amendments come into force in April 2027.
The present VAD Act 2017 contains 68 safeguards.
Following the passage of the VAD Amendment Act it will now have –
• 56 retained and unchanged safeguards
• 12 retained and slightly changed safeguards
• One added safeguard
Note: Changes to current VAD Act 2017 – highlighted in red.
Not all amendments have been listed below.
1. Conscientious objection of registered health practitioners
If a registered medical practitioner or nurse practitioner has a conscientious objection to VAD and does not want to provide information they must -
1. Advise that another medical/nurse practitioner can assist with information provision
2. Provide person with-
• Contact details for the VAD Statewide Care Navigator Service
• Internet address of Department of Health with VAD information
2. Removal of Gag Clause
During the course of discussion about end-of-life care the following registered health practitioners, who provide health services or professional care services to that person, may initiate discussion relating to the option of VAD–
• A registered medical practitioner
• A nurse practitioner
• A registered psychologist
• A registered nurse
• A registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner
3. Time-frame until death prognosis
• Time until death prognosis now 12 months for all conditions deemed eligible
4. Eligibility criteria for access to voluntary assisted dying
National - person must be
• Australian citizen; or
• Permanent resident; or
• At time of making first request have been ordinarily resident in Australia for a least 3 years.
Victoria – person must be
1. Ordinarily resident in Victoria for at least 12 months at time of making first request however;
2. Person can now apply to the Secretary for exemption if-
• Inability to satisfy eligibility criteria for residency
• Has a substantial connection to Victoria
• Compassionate grounds
5. Each co-ordinating medical practitioner and consulting medical practitioner must—
• hold specialist registration; or
• be a vocationally registered general practitioner
• ONE year after being granted specialist registration or vocational registration (as the case requires).
6. Final request to be made a certain time after first request and consulting assessment
• at least 5 days after the day on which the person made the first request, beginning on and including the day on which the first request was made; and
• beginning on and including the day on which the consulting assessment was completed".
7. Person may make administration decision
A person who makes a final request may decide with co-ordinating practitioner the method of self-administration of VAD substance
• Self-administration; or
• Physician-administered
Person may then personally revoke previous administration decision at any time and make a new administration decision
8. Minimum requirements for administering practitioners –
Each administering practitioner must be -
1. A registered medical practitioner who -
• holds specialist registration; or
• is a vocationally registered general practitioner; or
2. A nurse practitioner; or
3. A registered nurse who has held registration as a registered nurse for at least 5 years.
9. Interpreters
If a National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) accredited interpreter is unavailable, a person may apply to the Secretary for an exemption from compliance with the requirement specified
This would mean using a non-accredited NAATI interpreter who may be a community member but NOT FAMILY member.
Note: Family is defined as a person’s spouse/domestic parter, parent, sibling, child, grandchild – see definitions, Victorian VAD Act 2017
10. The registered medical practitioner must refuse to take on role of consulting or co-ordinating doctor if the person of the practitioner—
• is a family member of the person; or
• believes the practitioner is, or has knowledge of being, a beneficiary under the person's will; or
• benefits financially or in any other material way from the person's death (other than by receiving fees from the person for the provision of services as a registered medical practitioner).