Voluntary assisted dying (VAD)

This information is sourced from the Northern Territory Government’s dedicated VAD web page, cmc.nt.gov.au/project-management-office/voluntary-assisted-dying

As of October 2023, the Northern Territory embarked on an extensive consultation process to listen to the views of our community, address concerns, and develop safeguards so that Territorians can make informed choices about their end of life.

An independent Expert Advisory Panel (the Advisory Panel) has been commissioned to lead the consultation process under the Inquiries Act 1945. The Advisory Panel will advise on the development of a discussion paper, lead the consultation process and make recommendations for the potential development of VAD legislation. The Advisory Panel will report to the Chief Minister. Sue Shearer, COTA NT’s Chief Executive Officer is one of the advisory panel members.

How to have your say

To have your say on developing the framework, you can:

• attend a public meeting – see the NTG web page for dates or follow the Northern Territory Government on eventbrite and request event notifications. Bookings are required for all public meetings.
• complete the online survey on the Have Your Say website
• email a submission to .
• The survey and submissions will close on 16 February 2024.

Project contacts

If you wish to have a group meeting outside of those scheduled, contact the project team on the details below.

• Email .
• You can also call the hotline on 1800 973 393 from 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Terms of Reference

The Advisory Panel is tasked with providing advice to Government to assist in the consultation and potential development and implementation of a new statutory framework for VAD. Specifically, the Advisory Panel will provide advice to the Government on an appropriate legal framework for VAD in the Northern Territory by answering the following questions:

• i. What can the Northern Territory learn from the VAD experience in other jurisdictions, including overseas?
• ii. Who should be able to access VAD?
• iii. What process should a person follow to access VAD?
• iv. What models of care should be adopted so that VAD can effectively be delivered in the Northern Territory context?
• v. What are the legal and ethical obligations of Health Practitioners who provide services relating to VAD?
• vi. What safeguards need to be put in place for those accessing or providing VAD?
• vii. How should compliance be monitored? and
• viii. Any other question the panel considers appropriate.

The Panel will report on its findings to Government by end of July 2024.

Discussion guides

To inform the community-wide discussion and to provide guidance for those wishing to provide feedback and input into the consultation process, a number of Discussion Guides (the Guides) have also been released and are published to the NTG web page.