Denton blasts federal barriers to assisted dying access

He says federal policies are undermining equitable voluntary assisted dying access despite state laws working as intended.

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End-of-life advocate and broadcaster Andrew Denton has accused the federal government of blocking fair access to voluntary assisted dying, warning that outdated commonwealth laws and policies are forcing terminally ill Australians to travel for assessments and endure avoidable suffering.

Speaking at the release of the 2026 State of VAD Report at Parliament House this week, the founder of Go Gentle Australia said federal inaction, particularly around telehealth restrictions and the absence of VAD in national end-of-life policy frameworks, was undermining equitable access to care.

“It’s time for the federal government to step up, so states can get on with delivering compassionate VAD care,” he said.

More than 100 stakeholders from health, legal and patient advocacy organisations attended the event. The report found that while state and territory VAD laws were largely operating as intended, commonwealth policy settings had become a major barrier to timely access.

Mr Denton also fired a stinging attack at the federal government over its inaction on amending the Commonwealth Criminal Code to allow the use of electronic communications in VAD, such as telehealth.

He said the Criminal Code’s ban on telehealth in VAD was a “cruel anomaly” that forced dying people to travel for in-person assessments, even when they were too unwell to do so.

“Australia is the only country in the world, where VAD is legal, that does not allow telehealth,” he said.

“No cogent reason has ever been given why this problem should not be fixed. Turning a blind eye to avoidable suffering is not good enough.”

Mr Denton’s broadside didn’t end there. He also criticised the absence of VAD from key federal policy frameworks governing end-of-life care.

The current National Palliative Care Strategy does not reference voluntary assisted dying, and federal aged care legislation repeatedly refers to palliative and end-of-life care without mentioning the practice.

According to the Go Gentle report, this omission contributed to stigma and silence around VAD within the health system, despite the practice being recognised by many clinicians as part of end-of-life care.

Guidance issued by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission stating that VAD was “different from” palliative care was also criticised.

Denton called on the federal government, particularly attorney-general Michelle Rowland, to amend the Criminal Code to permit telehealth consultations and formally recognise VAD within national end-of-life policy frameworks.

“These are easy fixes,” he said.

“Instead, dying Australians continue to suffer needlessly while we wait for the government to act.”

The report also highlighted ongoing access barriers in residential aged care, where some providers, many of them faith-based, continued to block residents from accessing VAD services.

In some cases, residents were required to transfer to another facility to complete assessments or to die elsewhere.

Advocates said the requirement could impose significant physical and emotional strain on patients already facing the final stages of terminal illness.

Mr Denton said governments must ensure facilities complied with existing legislative and regulatory obligations to allow residents to pursue lawful end-of-life choices.

“At Go Gentle, our mission statement is clear: we march for those who can’t—the dying, the bedbound, the aged and the terminally ill,” he said.

“Today we call on the federal government to step up and do the same.”

Read Go Gentle’s 2026 State of VAD report here.