DWD ACT
The ACT government has, by accident or by design, excluded consumers from involvement in determining who will or will not be able to access VAD when the scheme starts operation in November this year’ says the President of Dying with Dignity ACT, Sam Delaney
Read the presentations made by several of the speakers at our VAD Forum on 15th April 2025
This advertisement about Dementia appeared in the Canberra Times (page 5) on 8 May 2025
Sam Delaney, President, Dying with Dignity ACT, said this morning (7 May) ‘Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith is to be congratulated for committing to reviewing eligibility for voluntary assisted dying in the ACT’.
A short video clip from Win News about the VAD Forum hosted by DWDACT on 15 April 2025
‘Voluntary Assisted Dying and the realities of end-of-life in Canberra’
A Forum sponsored by Dying with Dignity ACT
Date: Tuesday 15 April 2025 – 10.30 to 12.30
At the Reception Room, Legislative Assembly Building, London Circuit, Civic.
Click here for the youtube video of Andrew Denton, Jane Morris and Jane Simpson discussing Motor Neurone Disease in the context of the limitations of voluntary assisted dying law
In early September most of the ACT election candidates who had already registered with the Electoral Commission were emailed a survey questionnaire about their attitude to Voluntary Assisted Dying.
The full report of the survey response is available on the Canberrans for a Good Death website.
Based on the responses, a short Form Guide for Voters was developed, as below.
A YOUGOV survey of 629 Canberrans found strong support for VAD, and very strong support for extending the current VAD legislation to cater for people who were suffering intolerably but were not close to death.
The new VAD legislation from 3 November 2025 will not help people who lose decision-making capacity. The Legislative Assembly has supported a motion to consider this problem. The resolution proposes that the Government report back on possible models by May 2025.
On 5 June 2024 the ACT Legislative Assembly passed the ACT Voluntary Assisted Dying bill. The vote was 20 in favour, 5 against. All Labor and Greens members voted in favour of the bill, along with Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee, deputy opposition leader Leanne Castley and Liberal members Nicole Lawder…
ACT MLA Dr Marisa Paterson has invited community consultation on her proposed amendments to the Voluntary Assisted Dying bill currently before the Legislative Assembly. She says “I am proposing amendments … seeking to address a critical gap in existing VAD legislation across Australia, where a person loses capacity following the final request…
