ACT government axes VAD for teens in staged approach

Dying with Dignity ACT is considering launching legal action if the Labor-Greens government moves to deny terminally ill teenagers access to voluntary assisted dying.

ACT Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne.

Dying with Dignity ACT is considering launching legal action if the Labor-Greens government moves to deny terminally ill teenagers access to voluntary assisted dying, arguing that it is “ageist” and contrary to human rights laws to restrict access to adults.

ACT chapter president Jeanne Arthur said she expected the legislation put forward by the Territory government to be consistent with human rights principles, arguing that she saw no reason why a minor who was “suffering and close to death” should be denied the same option as everyone else.

Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne recently confirmed that the ACT government – led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr – would walk away from a proposal to allow children as young as 14 to access assisted suicide.

Ms Cheyne told the VAD National Conference that due to the “complexity of its implementation” and resulting delays, a “preference is emerging to not continue pursuing” a scheme that includes teenagers. However, she indicated it would be “worth revisiting in a legislated review”.

“Our position is we expect that the legislation will be consistent with our ACT human rights, and anything with any aspect of the legislation which does not conform to that act would not be acceptable to us,” Ms Arthur said.

“So when we see the legislation and it is passed, if it discriminates in any way against anyone, we would be taking action on the basis of the discriminatory nature.”

Labor member for the ACT electorate of Bean David Smith has welcomed Ms Cheyne’s comments, saying that many constituents had come to him with concerns. “For me, it is an example of listening to many people who had a concern about that possibility,“ he said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the decision to open assisted suicide to teens was a “terrible signal”.

“In a jurisdiction that is closing down religious healthcare institutions, banning woodfires, banning gas connections, is giving a green light to ice and other illicit drugs on the streets, and is the most failed left-wing outfit in living memory, to have gone down the path for euthanasia for minors would have been a terrible signal,” she said.

Australian Medical Association ACT president Kerrie Aust said the doctors’ body supported the Territory government’s decision to adopt a staged approach towards its VAD model “recognising the complexity that exists in regard to assessing decision making capacity”. “We understand that this will be explored later as part of the legislative review process,” Dr Aust said.

Former Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, who led the push to ban ­voluntary assisted dying in the ACT and the Northern Territory, said the proposal “should never have been advanced”. “The proposal reveals again the radical social agenda of the Labor-Greens government in the Territory,” he said. “The danger is that the backdown is just a tactic to ­placate critics.”

The architect of the nation’s first voluntary assisted dying laws Marshall Perron said he understood why the ACT government had decided not to “go down this path” given the difficulties, and it was important that it had given the concept consideration.

“Wherever you draw the line, and all of the states of course have drawn the line at 18 – which is generally considered the age of becoming an adult and under Australian law and society – you can always say, well what about someone who’s six months younger?,” he said. “So whether you drew the line at 17, 16, 15 or 14, you’re going to have the same issue.”

The former NT chief minister urged the ACT government not to backtrack on its progressive approach to timeframes. Ms Cheyne indicated she did not intend to limit access to the scheme to those with just six or 12 months to live. “To me it’s completely unreasonable to do that,” Mr Perron said. “If we’re basing it on compassion and the person has got a terminal illness and is going to die … I just think that’s a cruel provision.”