The Australian info A parliamentary inquiry into the bill found the phrase in the bill that a person must be in the “last stages of life” and have an “advanced” condition was not clearly defined.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said officials were already working on amendments to make this clearer.
Unlike other jurisdictions, the ACT won’t require an expected time frame to death in eligibility criteria. Instead, the bill says a person must be in the “last stages of life”.
Several groups who gave evidence to the inquiry said the term could create uncertainty as different health professionals could have different views about what this means.
But while the government has confirmed they will change this, they have not provided a definitive timeline for when the laws are expected to be debated and, most likely, pass the Legislative Assembly.
Voluntary assisted dying will be available to Canberrans 18 months after the bill passes the ACT Legislative Assembly and Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne has previously indicated she would like the bill to pass in the first half of 2024. This would mean voluntary assisted dying would be available to Canberrans by late-2025.
However, Ms Cheyne did not address questions about whether the government was still working to pass the bill in the first half of the year.
“I welcome the inquiry report and the detailed consideration the committee has provided to this bill and its implementation,” she said in a statement.
“Noting the report has been out for fewer than 24 hours, the government is considering the recommendations and comments.”
The government has four months to respond to the committee’s report.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said officials were already working on changing parts of the ACT’s voluntary assisted dying bill. Picture by Gary Ramage
But Ms Stephen-Smith did provide a clearer indication of the timeline, saying it would be debated “mid-year”.
“We do expect we
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