The swift expansion of euthanasia law in Australia continues as the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has reported its first euthanasia deaths, showing that the territory appears on track to have the highest proportion of assisted deaths in its first year among all jurisdictions in the world with their own assisted death laws.
ACT’s assisted death legislation, the most recent assisted death law to begin operating in Australia, is the most expansive assisted death legislation in Australia, and one of the most extreme in the world. It is the only scheme currently operating in Australia with no fixed time within which an applicant must be expected to die. It also sets no minimum waiting period between key steps, meaning that a person could request euthanasia in the morning and be dead by the afternoon.
