ACT Voluntary Assisted Dying: Eligibility, Process, and What You Need to Know

The ACT legalised voluntary assisted dying (VAD) through the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2024, making it one of the last Australian jurisdictions to establish a statutory framework for the practice. The process is tightly regulated and fundamentally different from advance care planning.

Eligibility Criteria

To access VAD in the ACT, a person must meet all of the following requirements:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Have lived in the ACT for at least 12 months, unless granted a residency exemption based on a substantial connection with the ACT
• Have decision-making capacity in relation to the VAD request, assessed by the coordinating and consulting practitioners
• Have an advanced and progressive medical condition expected to cause death, with functioning and quality of life declining and the person approaching the end of life
• Be experiencing suffering in relation to the condition that the person considers intolerable

The Absolute Capacity Requirement

This is the single most important distinction between VAD and advance care planning: you cannot request VAD through an EPoA, Health Direction, or any other advance planning document. The person requesting VAD must have decision-making capacity at every step of the process, from the initial request through to the final administration.

If a person loses capacity between their initial request and the final step, the process stops. An enduring attorney cannot complete the request on their behalf, regardless of what the principal may have previously expressed about their wishes. This means VAD is not available for conditions like advanced dementia where capacity is lost before the terminal phase.

The Request and Assessment Process

The VAD process requires multiple formal steps:

1. First request — made personally, verbally or in writing, to a health practitioner who accepts it as the coordinating practitioner
2. First assessment — the coordinating practitioner assesses eligibility and confirms capacity
3. Consulting assessment — a different authorised practitioner provides a separate eligibility assessment
4. Second request — made in writing, signed by the person (or, in limited circumstances, an agent), and witnessed by two eligible witnesses
5. Final request — made personally after the second request
6. Final assessment — the coordinating practitioner assesses capacity and voluntariness after the final request
7. Administration — either self-administered or practitioner-administered, depending on the person's choice and ability

ACAT can review certain decisions about eligibility, capacity, voluntariness, or residency. There is no filing fee for VAD-related ACAT applications.

How VAD Interacts With Advance Care Planning

VAD and advance care planning serve different functions, and one does not replace the other. A Health Direction covers binding refusals of treatment that apply when you have lost capacity. VAD is a separate process that requires active capacity throughout.

In practical terms, a person might have both: a Health Direction refusing mechanical ventilation in the event of sudden incapacity, and a separate VAD request if they are terminally ill and want to control the timing of their death while still competent.

Your Statement of Choices can express a general wish for VAD, but this expression carries no legal weight — it cannot trigger or accelerate the statutory VAD process. It may, however, prompt conversations between your healthcare team and your family about whether to explore the formal pathway while capacity remains.

For families navigating the full spectrum of ACT end-of-life planning — Health Directions, EPoAs, Statements of Choices, and understanding where VAD fits — the ACT Advance Directive & Living Will Kit lays out how each instrument interacts with the others and what each one can actually do under current legislation.

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