Our paper, The Australian model, tries to understand the Australian experience of assisted dying legislation and what lessons can be learnt from the system used in each state. To do this, we compiled statistics from different aspects of the system, including the opinion of medical bodies over time, statewide reports around any issues within the system, and prognosis between areas. All of these help to give a comprehensive view of the system.
The opinion of medical bodies has moved from some opposition to assisted dying primarily to support or neutrality or having no clear position on the issue. The chart below tracks their position, in large part using published position statements or statements within reports outlining their position on assisted dying.
The requirements for prognosis vary across Australian states and territories. A noticeable feature is that, despite different expectations around how long an individual will live, the prognosis in all states has always been that the person is expected to die from that condition. This was even the case, including for the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. A clear breakdown of the precise wording of the prognosis required in each state and territory can be found below.
Compiling information from each statewide report allows for an overall picture of the Act. The figures below are referrals by the board to relevant authorities; as a result, not all of these referrals will be upheld.
The link between palliative care provision and assisted dying legislation is often a highly debated topic. This includes funding for palliative care before, during, and after the law change. The most prominent change which has occurred within Australia is the consistent increase in palliative care spending, which came alongside assisted dying legislation.
The increased investment also happened at some level within every state and territory which also has assisted dying legislation in place. To illustrate the scale of this investment further, below is a timeline for each state showing the improvements in palliative care alongside where assisted dying legislation was passed. In each of these funding settlements, funding which is mentioned as specifically for assisted dying services has been removed.
The graph below is in millions of Australian dollars.
