The Exclusion of Long-Term Australian Residents from Access to Voluntary Assisted Dying: A Critique of the ‘Permanent Resident’ Eligibility Criterion

When state parliaments legalised voluntary assisted dying (‘VAD’), they could not have anticipated that the requirement to be ‘an Australian citizen or permanent resident’ would be one of the main areas of controversy. This criterion of eligibility was intended to prevent people travelling from other countries to access VAD. However, because the term ‘permanent resident’ is not defined in the legislation, it has unfortunately prevented some long-term Australian residents from accessing VAD. We evaluate various definitions of ‘permanent resident’ and conclude that a plain English definition better suits the text, context, and purpose of the VAD laws than the technical definitions found in migration or citizenship legislation. We then suggest policy and statutory reform to ameliorate some of the problems which have occurred in practice.