School of Law and Justice, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia.
Med Law Rev. 2024 Feb 26;32(1):42-60. doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwad030.
Taking one's own life or attempting to do so has long been decriminalised in Australia. Aiding, counselling, or inciting another person to kill him or herself, however, remains a criminal offence. Yet, all six Australian States have now introduced laws allowing assistance in dying under certain circumstances. This article traces the recent history of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws in Australia. It examines the introduction of the world's first assisted dying legislation in the Northern Territory in 1995 followed by the Federal Government's 1997 deprivation of the Territories' power to legislate on assisted dying invalidating said law. It further considers the fifty-seven failed Bills attempting to achieve law reform in this context in Australian jurisdictions between 1993 and 2017 with a view to identifying what factors may have contributed to the continuing lack of success. This article then outlines the rapid introduction of VAD laws in all six Australian States decriminalising VAD over the span of only 5 years. It ponders what may have changed to bring about this law reform. This article closes by contemplating potential future law reform in the Australian Territories, which have been reinstated with jurisdiction to legislate on VAD in December 2022.
在澳大利亚，自杀或试图自杀长期以来已非刑事犯罪。然而，协助、劝导或煽动他人自杀仍属刑事犯罪。尽管如此，澳大利亚所有六个州现已出台法律，在某些情况下允许协助他人结束生命。本文追溯了澳大利亚自愿协助死亡（VAD）法律的近期历史。文中探讨了 1995 年北领地成为世界上第一个引入协助自杀立法的地区，以及联邦政府在 1997 年剥夺该地区在协助自杀方面的立法权，从而使该法律失效的情况。文中进一步考虑了 1993 年至 2017 年期间，澳大利亚司法管辖区内试图进行法律改革的 57 项失败法案，以确定哪些因素可能导致持续缺乏成功。本文随后概述了在短短 5 年内，澳大利亚六个州迅速出台 VAD 法律，将 VAD 合法化。文中思考了可能带来法律改革的因素。本文最后探讨了澳大利亚各地区可能进行的未来法律改革，这些地区在 2022 年 12 月重新获得 VAD 立法权。
