The number of Victorians using the state’s voluntary assisted dying scheme has surged by almost 40 per cent in a single year, with authorities saying numbers will likely climb even higher following a major shake-up of the rules late last year. Source: Herald Sun.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board’s latest annual report reveals 1156 Victorians applied for VAD in the year to June, a jump of almost 40 per cent on the prior financial year.
The number of people using the scheme already surpasses a forecast, made last year, of 1300 requests by 2028.
Regional Victorians are turning to the scheme in high numbers, which is partly driving the trend, with about 37 per cent of all requests coming from outside metropolitan Melbourne.
This is despite only one in four Victorians living in regional areas.
VAD deaths accounted for 1.1 per cent of all deaths in Victoria in 2025-26, a slight rise on the previous year and almost four times the rate recorded in the scheme’s first year of operation, 2019-20.
Officials also expect uptake to climb further following changes to the law introduced last November which scrapped a controversial “gag clause” that had barred health practitioners from raising VAD with patients unprompted, meaning patients previously had to broach the subject themselves.
The changes have also extended the medical prognosis time frame. Under the original Act, patients needed less than six months to live, or 12 months for a neurodegenerative condition, to qualify.
The changes now allow a 12-month prognosis time frame across all eligible conditions.
The minimum waiting period for accessing life-ending medication has also been cut to five days.
The report shows men are more likely to use the scheme than women, making up 54 per cent of applicants compared to 46 per cent for females.
Older Victorians dominated the figures, with the majority of applicants falling between 60 and 89 years of age.
FULL STORY
Victoria voluntary assisted dying applications jump 40 per cent after GP ‘gag clause’ ends; regional uptake rises (By Alex White, Herald Sun)
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