Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2024

Who is affected and who decides

• Individuals who may seek voluntary assisted dying: adults who meet the eligibility and final assessment requirements (s11, s31).
• Health practitioners: a coordinating practitioner, an independent consulting practitioner and (where chosen) an administering practitioner must be authorised and meet role requirements (authorisation and role rules s86–97). A doctor must occupy either coordinating or consulting practitioner role (s97(3)).
• Director‑general: approves medicines, suppliers and disposers (s56–57), authorises practitioners (s88–96), maintains registers (s85, s96) and may make guidelines (s159).
• Voluntary Assisted Dying Oversight Board: monitors, receives reports, analyses data and can refer matters to police, the coroner and other entities (s119).
• Facility operators: must permit reasonable access to relevant persons, consider and facilitate transfers where appropriate, maintain policies and not withdraw care solely for requesting information or making a request (s102–109).
• Facility residents, contact persons, suppliers and disposers: have duties to receive, transfer and/or dispose of approved substances and to notify the board in specified timeframes (see s51–54; s60–74).

Who pays and compliance costs (practical incentives)

• Individuals: will bear typical costs for medical consultations, transfers and any transport or accommodation to see practitioners; the Act itself does not specify funding mechanisms for individual care, but the process requires additional practitioner time for multiple assessments and reporting (see s16, s23, s35, s58–59).
• Health practitioners and approved suppliers/disposers/facility operators: incur compliance obligations—authorisation, documentation, reporting to the board, storage and disposal procedures, and possible transfers of duties (see s88–96, s18, s22, s60(7), s73). Failures can attract monetary penalties or (for serious breaches such as coercion or unauthorised administration) criminal penalties (s40, s49, s75, s76).
• Territory executive: administrative costs to run authorisations, maintain registers, run the board and the approved care navigator service, and to investigate and enforce compliance (s85, s110, s125, s158). The director‑general has discretion to approve medicines/suppliers and to issue guidelines (s56–57, s159), which carries implementation and resourcing effects.

Compliance burden, timelines and reporting (examples)

• Numerous mandatory time limits and notification duties create predictable administrative flows but also impose time pressures: decisions to accept/refuse first or consulting referrals within 4 business days (s14(1), s20(1)); report copies to the board within 4 business days after assessments or requests (s18(1)(b), s22(2), s30(1), s34(4), s42(4), s44(5), s58(4), s59(4), s60(7)(b), s73(2)(b)). Many of these are strict liability offences. These create concrete compliance costs for recordkeeping and prompt reporting (see cited sections).

Areas of administrative discretion and gatekeeping

• The director‑general determines authorised practitioners and may impose conditions and revoke authorisations (s88–96). The director‑general also approves medicines and suppliers/disposers (s56–57) and keeps registers (s85) — these points of approval shape who can participate in the system.
• The board has investigatory and referral powers (s119) and must act independently but may receive ministerial directions (limited by s121). Practitioners must exercise clinical judgment on eligibility and capacity (s16, s23, s35; decision‑making capacity defined at s12).

Protections and exemptions

• Conscientious objection: health practitioners or health service providers can refuse participation on conscientious grounds, but must provide the individual with approved care navigator contact details within 2 business days (s99–100).
• Protections from liability for persons acting honestly and reasonably under the Act (s129–133). The Act also sets privacy and protected‑information offences (s160).

Appeals and reviews

• Decisions by practitioners and the director‑general are reviewable by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) under the review pathways in Parts 10 and 11 (s134–152). Review applications trigger suspension of the request/administration process while the review is pending (s138).

Implementation features and review

• The Act ties into other laws (Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 2008; Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997; Health Practitioner Regulation National Law) for medicines, registries and professional regulation (see s55, s82 and notes throughout).
• The Minister must review the Act’s operation (first review in s162), with the first review required to examine particular issues including the definition of “advanced” (s11(3)) and residency, access for children, and advanced care planning (s162(2)).

Trade‑offs, incentives and risks (source‑grounded)

• The Act concentrates benefit on individuals who meet strict criteria (s6, s11) while imposing recurring administrative and compliance costs on practitioners, facility operators and approved suppliers/disposers (recordkeeping and notifications, various sections throughout Part 3 and Part 4, plus s60, s73). These are concrete costs of participation.
• The director‑general and the Board hold approval and monitoring powers (s56–57, s119, s125), giving administrative levers that shape availability and supply; these levers create discretional bottlenecks (approval, authorisation, guidelines) rather than guaranteed market provision.
• The Act builds multiple procedural safeguards (independent consulting assessment s23; witness/certification rules s27–28, s66(4); offences for coercion s40, s49) and review rights (Part 10) to reduce risk of coercion or error, while creating obligations and timelines that must be met by practitioners and facilities.

Practical points for participants (where to look in the Act)

• Eligibility and capacity: s11 and s12.
• Stepwise process and practitioner roles: Parts 3 and 4 (notably s13–37 and s41–76).
• Medicines, supply and disposal rules: s56–74.
• Authorisation and role requirements for participating practitioners: s86–98.
• Conscientious objection and navigation support: s99–100 and s158.
• Facility operator duties to permit access/transfers and to keep a policy: s102–109.
• Oversight, reporting and review: s85, s110–127 and s134–162.

This summary describes the Act’s operational mechanics, the parties who decide or pay, the reporting and compliance obligations, and the points of administrative discretion. It attributes stated purposes in the Act (see s6) and then identifies the concrete mechanisms, costs and safeguards created by the statutory scheme (with section references shown above).