Voluntary Assisted Dying Regulation 2025

For health practitioners:

• Authorisation requirements: Sets out who can become an authorised coordinating practitioner, consulting practitioner, or administering practitioner. This includes completing approved training, having sufficient experience (e.g., 5 years as a doctor or 1 year as a nurse practitioner in relevant areas), and having no "disqualifying findings" (serious professional misconduct like coercing patients or stealing drugs).
• Ongoing obligations: Requires practitioners to complete refresher training every 3 years and report any adverse findings against them within 7 days.
• Conscientious objection: Clarifies that social workers and speech pathologists are "relevant health service providers" who can object to participating.

For the system:

• Oversight: Requires the Board to collect detailed statistics about how many people request VAD, how many are eligible, how many complete the process, and demographic data (age, suburb, language).
• Facility policies: Requires facilities like nursing homes to have written policies about whether they allow VAD on their premises.
• Residency exemptions: Sets out what information people need to provide if they're applying for an exemption from the ACT residency requirement (for example, if they have a strong connection to the ACT but live elsewhere).

Why it matters: This regulation puts the flesh on the bones of the VAD Act. While the Act sets out the broad framework, this regulation contains the granular details that make the system work safely – from the exact wording on medication labels (which must state the substance "is to cause death") to the specific qualifications required for counsellors and social workers who support people through the process. It ensures there are clear audit trails, protects vulnerable people through strict eligibility checks, and provides transparency through data collection while maintaining privacy.