Voluntary Assisted Dying Law

Dying with Dignity Tasmania played a significant role in getting voluntary assisted dying legislation passed in Tasmania in 2021 after many years of lobbying and working with members of Parliament, including Mike Gaffney MLC, who worked very hard for this law.

The law is called the End-of-life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Act 2021.

The legislation received overwhelming support by both Houses of the Tasmanian Parliament and was finally passed in March 2021. Tasmania became the third State, after Victoria and WA, to pass a voluntary assisted dying law.  Since then, South Australia, Queensland and NSW have followed suit with ACT and Northern Territory hopefully next.  

There are many similarities between the laws but also some differences.  For example, the Tasmanian law took into account ways to improve on the Victorian law based on their experience. You can find summaries of all the States’ laws at https://www.gogentleaustralia.org.au/resources.

The Tasmanian law came into operation on 23 October 2022.  Dying with Dignity Tasmania was actively involved as a representative on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Stakeholder Reference Group.  This Group provided advice on the many different arrangements for when the law became a reality for Tasmanians.

The Department of Health (Tasmania) is responsible for implementing the law.  Detailed up to date information is available from the Department through the website - https://www.health.tas.gov.au/health-topics/voluntary-assisted-dying.  

The law is to be reviewed after three years of operation.  

DWDTas will be closely watching what happens in practice and to identify and take action when we see problems for people wanting to access voluntary assisted dying choice.  We will aim to get improvements at the time of the review.