Push to shield voluntary assisted dying doctors

Regional Australians will have better access to voluntary euthanasia under a Queensland-led push to overhaul a ommonwealth law.

Queensland's Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: Jerad Williams

Regional Australians will have better access to voluntary euthanasia under a Queensland-led push to overhaul commonwealth law that bans doctors from “inciting or counselling” suicide over the phone or internet.

Five of Australia’s six states have now embraced voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill after a historic vote in the Queensland parliament last week.

NSW is the last state to offer its residents the right to die, but independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich is expected to introduce legislation to state parliament next month.

Despite 17 million Australians now covered by state schemes, the Morrison government has refused to exempt doctors from federal prosecution for giving advice on voluntary assisted dying to terminally ill patients via telehealth.

A federal law passed in 2005 prevents doctors from encouraging suicide by phone, email or videoconference, punishable by a fine of $222,000.

While advocates say voluntary assisted dying is not a form of suicide, they warn doctors are still at risk of prosecution.

Federal Attorney-General Michaelia Cash did not respond to a request for comment on Friday, but her spokesman has previously said the government “has no plans to amend the suicide related material offences in the Commonwealth Criminal Code”.

Labor health spokesman Mark Butler said doctors should be able to do their job “without the threat of criminal prosecution hanging over their head”.

“The Morrison government needs to stop sitting on its hands and ensure that the implementation of those state laws is not thwarted by the threat of prosecution under commonwealth communications laws,” he said.

After the passage of Queensland’s euthanasia laws last week, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is preparing to write her third letter to the Prime Minister urging him to amend the Criminal Code to ensure regional Australians have equitable access to the scheme. The commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has also rejected the state’s request to issue a prosecutorial guideline to ensure health practitioners would not face criminal action, and will not comment on the issue.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the issue had become more pressing after the passage of Queensland’s euthanasia laws, given its reliance on telehealth.