Voluntary Assisted Dying and the merits of offence-specific prosecutorial guidelines in Australia

Voluntary Assisted Dying and the merits of offence-specific prosecutorial guidelines in Australia

Over the past three decades jurisdictions in Australia and overseas have grappled with questions surrounding the regulation of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD). Most past law reform attempts in Australia have failed. Yet, in recent years Victoria and Western Australia have introduced specific VAD laws including protections from criminal liability. This article analyses what liability can arise from participation in VAD under current criminal law in Australia prior to providing an overview of past failed VAD law reform attempts. It ponders the merits of introducing offence-specific prosecutorial guidelines in the context of VAD, as available in England and Wales in relation to assisted suicide, in those Australian jurisdictions, where law reform has been continuously unsuccessful. It concludes that these guidelines are not an appropriate way of creating VAD reform in Australia and that, where reform is deemed necessary, this must be addressed by the democratically elected legislature through the enactment of statutory law.

c. Thomson Reuters.