Green Left's Suzanne James talks to president of Dying With Dignity Victoria, Jane Morris about defending the important human right of end-of-life choice through Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) now legal Australia wide except in the Northern Territory.

They discuss the October 2024 international Right To Die Societies conference in Dublin, November’s Australia New Zealand VAD conference in Brisbane and the recent vote in the UK in favour of VAD by a traditionally conservative Westminster Parliament.

It also covers the 50th Birthday of Dying With Dignity NSW and their first year of the legislation’s operation, the five year VAD review in Victoria, and the renewed push to restore VAD rights in the Northern Territory.

VAD is restricted worldwide to terminally ill people who have a medically certified diagnosis of imminent death. Advocates and activists continue to fight to protect the right to medical autonomy and to campaign against those who seek to undo it for political and religious gain.

You can watch this as a video online: https://www.greenleft.org.au/video/video-dying-dignity-update

We acknowledge that this was produced on stolen Aboriginal land. We express solidarity with ongoing struggles for justice for First Nations people and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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