If passed, from mid-2019, the highly contentious legislation would allow those suffering from an advanced and incurable illness, disease or medical condition to seek a medically assisted death.

Since the subject of euthanasia can be so ethically complicated, the details of how the new laws will work in practice are important.

At the end of 2016, an independent panel of healthcare and legal professionals, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Ministerial Advisory Panel (the Panel) was asked to look into those details. The Panel published its final report in July and so it’s now possible to get a sense of how (what the Panel calls) voluntary assisted dying would work.

Who will be able to choose euthanasia?

There are two key tests to determine if a Victorian adult will be able to access assistance to die.

Firstly, they need to have ‘decision-making capacity’, so that they understand what is involved and can make a voluntary, informed decision.

Secondly, they need to have been diagnosed with an incurable disease, illness or medical condition that is:

(a) advanced, progressive and will cause death in not longer than 12 months and which is

(b) causing suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner the person deems tolerable.

These tests mean that there are a few situations in which someone who might want to use the voluntary assisted dying laws won’t be able to do so. For example, some people with dementia may not be able to access the voluntary assisted dying scheme.

Similarly, someone with a mental illness or a disability will not, for those reasons alone, be able to access the voluntary assisted dying scheme. Another result is that it will not be possible to nominate voluntary assisted dying as something you want to be done if you become unable to decide for yourself in the future.

How will someone be able to access euthanasia?

Before a person is able to access the voluntary assisted dying scheme, they have to make three separate requests and undergo two independent medical assessments.

The stages are:

• First request

A person must make a written request for voluntary assisted dying to a medical practitioner. This medical practitioner will be able to conscientiously object to taking part, but if they don’t, they will make a decision as to whether to act as the ‘coordinating medical practitioner’.

• First assessment

The coordinating medical practitioner must conduct the first assessment using the eligibility criteria and must ensure the person is properly informed.

• Second assessment

If the person is eligible, the coordinating medical practitioner needs to refer the person to a second medical practitioner who must carry out a second, independent assessment.

• Second request

If both medical practitioners decide the person is eligible, the person needs to then complete and sign a written declaration, witnessed by two independent witnesses.

• Third request

The person needs to make a final, verbal request to the coordinating medical practitioner. This has to be done at least 10 days after the first request.

Once this is done, and the coordinating medical practitioner has obtained the lethal dose of medication, the person is required to store the medication in a locked box until they decide to administer it.

How will vulnerable people be protected from abuse?

The Panel included a number of different safeguards to help make sure that people do not abuse the assisted dying scheme.

New criminal laws

The Panel has recommended the creation of the following offences:

• inducing a person, through dishonesty or undue influence, to request voluntary assisted dying
• inducing a person, through dishonesty or undue influence, to self-administer a lethal dose of medication
• falsifying records related to voluntary assisted dying; and
• administering a lethal dose of medication to a person who does not have decision-making capacity

Witnesses

The written request must be witnessed by two people in the presence of the coordinating medical practitioner.

One of the witnesses must not be a family member, and both must be at least 18 years of age. Neither witness can be a recipient of any material benefit resulting from the person’s death. If it is the coordinating medical practitioner that administers the lethal dose, an independent witness must be present.

Self-administration

The person who has accessed the voluntary assisted dying scheme is the only person who is permitted to administer the lethal medication.

The only time anyone else will be able to administer the medication is if the person is physically unable to do so themselves. In these circumstances, the coordinating medical practitioner will be able to administer the medication.

Minimum training

Both medical practitioners must be qualified as Fellows of a College. At least one needs to have at least five years post fellowship experience, and at least one needs to have expertise in the person’s disease, illness or medical condition.

Both must have had training in making voluntary assisted dying assessments.

Medication permit

The coordinating medical practitioner will need to apply to the Department of Health and Human Services for a permit before they are able to write a prescription for the lethal dose of medication. A pharmacist will only be able to dispense the medication if there is a valid permit.

Oversight

The Panel recommended the creation of a Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, a statutory body that would review every case to make sure the safeguard processes are being followed.

When will the voluntary assisted dying system be set up?

The Victorian health minister, Jill Hennessy, has said that she would introduce legislation to Parliament today and that legislation would come into effect within an 18-month window of the bill passing.

Tomorrow, 21 September 2017, NSW Nationals MLC Trevor Khan will also formally introduce a voluntary assisted dying bill into the NSW Parliament with a second reading speech in the upper house, and formal debate due to begin in October.

This means that if these bills are successful, the voluntary assisted dying framework could come into effect by mid-2019.

What do you think about the contentious bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill patients? Do you support or oppose it, and why? Let us know in the comments! 

Following the increased frequency and severity of revenge porn attacks in Australia, intensifying community rhetoric concerning the inadequate state of criminal legislation to deal specifically with the revenge porn problem, as well as other troubling incidents involving the use of technology to breach the privacy of individuals, (for example, the Sydney nurse who took explicit photos of a patient under anaesthetic), new legislation that would make it a Federal crime to distribute sexually explicit images of a person online without their consent has been introduced into Parliament.

What Are The Proposed Changes?

The Bill to amend the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) would introduce three new telecommunications offences.

While there are existing provisions in the Commonwealth Telecommunications Act that go some way towards addressing this issue, current legislation has not kept pace with technological developments, and does not adequately protect individuals against the escalating problem concerning breaches of privacy that are carried out using technology.

The proposed Bill contains important new offences that will prescribe appropriate penalties for persons involved in image-based sexual exploitation, known as revenge porn. The offences reflect the community’s increased use of telecommunications to engage in harmful and abusive behaviour of a sexual nature and the harm that can be caused.

The proposed offences prohibiting revenge porn focus on the use offenders make of technological tools to engage in sexual exploitation. The offences are designed to respond to the harm that is caused to a person that has their private sexual material shared without their consent.

The proposed new laws will make it an offence for a person to transmit, make available, publish, distribute, advertise or promote private sexual material.

It will also be an offence for a person to:

1.  threaten to transmit, make available, publish, distribute, advertise or promote private sexual material;
2. possess, control, produce, supply or obtain private sexual material, for a commercial purpose or for the purpose of obtaining a benefit. This would encompass popular revenge porn websites.

The proposed offences are particularly aimed at the use of the Internet, email, SMS and other online applications or technological tools to engage in revenge porn.

What Constitutes Private Sexual Material?

The proposed definition of private sexual material has been drafted broadly not only to encompass the range of possible exploitative scenarios that legislators can currently predict but also, importantly, to cover future scenarios they cannot currently foreshadow.

The definition includes sexually explicit or nude images of women, men, transgender or intersex persons, as well as sexual poses or sexual activity.

The proposed new laws also encompasses different cultural contexts, such as an image of a Muslim woman without her religious headscarf on.

If You Have Been The Victim Of A Revenge Porn Attack, What Do These Changes Mean For You?

If the Bill is passed by both houses of Parliament and made into Australian legislation, it will be a Federal crime to use technology to distribute sexually explicit images of an individual without their consent.

This is good news for victims, and much needed protection, against future revenge porn attacks.

It means that regardless of which State or Territory a revenge porn offence is carried out in, it will be possible for you to report the crime to police and for offenders to be prosecuted under Federal legislation.

The maximum penalty  for the proposed offence is 3 years’ imprisonment, reflecting the seriousness of this type of conduct. The penalty for commercial use of sexually explicit materials is 5 years’ imprisonment, due to the aggravated circumstances surrounding this offence.

Conclusion

If you or someone you know has been the victim of revenge porn contact:

• Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN)
• Local police assistance line: 131444
• National Counselling Helpline: 1800 737 732 (for assistance and practical strategies on how to cope with the ongoing effects of revenge porn)

For practical strategies on how to deal with the immediate aftermath of a revenge porn, read our previous article here.

To read more about the Criminal Code Amendment (Private Sexual Material) Bill 2015 you can read the Explanatory Memorandum.  You can also track the progress of the Bill through Parliament by clicking here.