Mr Aidan Ricciardo1
1Law School, The University Of Western Australia, , Australia
Biography:
Aidan Ricciardo is a Lecturer at the UWA Law School, where he teaches and researches about health and medical law. Aidan's academic interests primarily relate to voluntary assisted dying, as well as bodily autonomy (particularly for trans and intersex young people).
Abstract:
In each Australian jurisdiction where it is legal, voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is typically available only to those who have been ordinarily resident in that jurisdiction for at least 12 months. This presentation argues that this requirement (which is intended to prevent 'death tourism') is in need of reform: it is unduly restrictive and leads to some absurdity now that every Australian state (and one territory) has passed VAD legislation. The residence requirement will be explored with reference to a series of voluntary assisted dying cases which came before the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal in early 2024 (all of which interpreted and applied the residence criterion in circumstances where the applicant spent a considerable amount of time in the past 12 months outside of the jurisdiction). The Tribunal adopted an appropriately broad construction of the term 'ordinarily resident', but still it remains more restrictive than it needs to be to fulfil its legislative purpose of preventing ‘death tourism’. The practical effect of this overbroad requirement is that it unfairly and absurdly excludes people who have not been ordinarily resident in the relevant jurisdiction for 12 months, but who have come from another Australian jurisdiction where they would have been able to access VAD (had they not moved). Now that broadly similar VAD legislation has been enacted in most Australian jurisdictions, this requirement is in need of reform.