Voluntary assisted dying will soon be legal in the Northern Territory, after its parliament passed new legislation on Thursday via a conscience vote. All but one member (who abstained) voted to pass the bill.
Authors
- Ben White
Distinguished Professor, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology
- Katrine Del Villar
Senior Lecturer in Law, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology
- Kat Waller
PhD Candidate, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology
- Madeleine Archer
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology
This makes the NT the last Australian jurisdiction to legalise voluntary assisted dying. It will be available to Territorians in early 2028.
So, why did it take so long for the NT to join other states and territories? And will voluntary assisted dying in the NT look different from other parts of Australia?
The NT population has the highest proportion of Indigenous people in any state and territory, and almost half of Territorians live rurally or remotely.
Here’s what that means for voluntary assisted dying.
Why did it take this long?
The NT actually had the first voluntary assisted dying laws – not only in Australia, but the world .
The territory passed its original Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in the mid-1990s . But the federal government banned territories from making laws on this topic (though states were allowed) and overrode the NT legislation nine months later in 1997.
In 2022, that ban was lifted meaning the NT could legislate on voluntary assisted dying again.
An independent expert advisory panel in 2024 and a parliamentary committee in 2025 each recommended making voluntary assisted dying lawful. The committee’s proposed model was largely reflected in the bill that passed on Thursday.
How it will work
The rules for voluntary assisted dying in the NT will mostly be like other parts of Australia .
To be eligible, a person must be 18 years or older and have the capacity to make their own decisions about voluntary assisted dying.
They must also be suffering intolerably from a medical condition that is advanced, progressive and expected to cause death within 12 months.
Two independent doctors with training on voluntary assisted dying must assess these criteria. A review board oversees each case.
Health professionals also have the right to conscientiously object to being involved in any part of the process, such as assessing eligibility or providing the medication. But they will be required to give patients who ask about voluntary assisted dying government-approved information to connect them to the system.
There will be some differences in the NT
One is that health-care workers cannot raise the topic of VAD with patients. This ” gag clause ” was part of the first voluntary assisted dying law in Australia in Victoria and was copied by South Australia.
But evidence suggested this ban made it hard for patients to know about voluntary assisted dying, so other states did not follow this approach when they introduced their own laws. Even Victoria has since changed its law on this.
Other differences aim to make the NT law culturally appropriate.
The parliamentary committee noted that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up more than 30% of the NT population and speak over 200 languages.
So in the NT, a patient will be able to make their formal request for voluntary assisted dying either in writing or in a video recording. In other jurisdictions, it must be in writing.
In the NT, family members or a “person with cultural authority” will also be allowed to be involved in the decision at the person’s request. How this would work is likely to be part of the implementation process. The final choice about voluntary assisted dying will still rest with the person seeking it.
The NT law also uniquely allows a government-approved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioner to administer the medication.
Specially trained doctors, nurse practitioners and registered nurses – who more commonly are allowed to act in this role – will also be able to administer the medication.
What happens now?
As in the rest of the country, there will be an 18-month implementation period to develop the structures to support safe practice.
This includes developing the training for practitioners who will provide voluntary assisted dying, clinical guidelines, the medication protocol, and establishing the review board.
The NT laws have national significance
From early 2028, all eligible Australians will have access to this choice.
This raises questions over whether we still need residency requirements in voluntary assisted dying laws.
The NT’s new laws require a person to have lived in the territory for at least 12 months before asking for voluntary assisted dying, although some exceptions are possible for people with a connection to the NT.
But requirements like this – which are in all state and territory voluntary assisted laws – are hard to justify now that all jurisdictions have legalised it. Australia doesn’t regulate other health services like this.
Another unresolved issue is the federal ban on using telehealth to discuss voluntary assisted dying . This has been problematic in all jurisdictions and will also be for the NT, especially given that 45% of its population lives in rural and remote areas.
With voluntary assisted dying now legal across Australia, we can expect strengthened calls to allow telehealth to be used as it is for other health services.
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Denisha Tyler, Research Assistant in QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research, to this article.
