Australia’s euthanasia deaths rise as Victoria expands assisted dying law
Victoria recorded 512 deaths under its voluntary assisted dying law in the year ending June 30, 2026, a 31.6% increase from the previous year. The state’s review board reported 1,156 applications; 372 deaths followed self-administration and 140 followed practitioner administration. Amendments scheduled to take effect in April 2027 will broaden eligibility, shorten the minimum request period from nine days to five, and allow some health professionals to initiate discussions about assisted dying. Victoria’s Catholic bishops have warned that the changes could weaken safeguards for vulnerable patients and urged lawmakers to strengthen access to palliative care. Nationally, more than 7,000 Australians have died after using a voluntary assisted dying substance, according to a 2026 report cited in the article.
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Victoria recorded 512 deaths under its voluntary assisted dying (VAD) law in the year ending June 30, 2026, a 31.6% increase from the previous year. The figures come as amendments broadening access are scheduled to take effect in 2027, prompting Catholic leaders to warn that safeguards could be weakened.
The state’s annual report recorded 1,156 VAD applications—nearly 40% more than in 2024–2025—and 512 deaths after administration of a VAD substance. Those deaths represented 1.1% of all deaths in Victoria.
Of the 512 deaths, 372 followed self-administration of the substance and 140 followed administration by a practitioner. The reported death total was nearly four times the number in the program’s first full year, after Victoria’s law took effect in 2019.
A 2026 report by Go Gentle Australia, an organization that supports VAD, said more than 14,000 people nationwide had applied for access and more than 7,000 had died after using a VAD substance since Victoria became the first Australian state to introduce the practice. It estimated VAD accounts for 2%–3% of deaths nationally.
VAD is available in all six Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory. The Northern Territory passed a law in August, with its system expected to begin operating in 2028.
Amendments passed by Victoria’s Parliament in November 2025 are scheduled to take effect on April 19, 2027. They will broaden eligibility, reduce the minimum request period from nine days to five, and allow some health professionals to initiate discussions about VAD as part of end-of-life care.
Victoria’s Catholic bishops opposed the amendments in an October 2025 pastoral letter. They warned that allowing practitioners to raise VAD with patients could affect people at their most vulnerable, argued the changes would weaken safeguards, and called for stronger access to palliative care.
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher has also urged the Church to offer alternatives, including palliative and pastoral care and respite care for families caring for dying and elderly people.
Human dignity grounds Catholic ethical opposition to euthanasia
Catholic opposition to euthanasia rests on the conviction that human dignity is inherent and inalienable: it belongs to every person because he or she is created and loved by God, not because of health, independence, freedom from pain, or perceived quality of life. Illness, disability, old age, and approaching death do not diminish that dignity.
On that basis, intentionally causing a person’s death—even at that person’s request—does not honor autonomy or dignity. It treats life as if its worth could be judged by suffering or chosen away, and makes another person the arbiter of when life should end. The Church therefore regards direct euthanasia as morally wrong in itself, while insisting that the suffering person deserves care, accompaniment, pain relief, and appropriate palliative support.
This opposition does not mean that every treatment must be continued at all costs. Catholic teaching distinguishes euthanasia from declining aggressive or disproportionate medical procedures; it calls for efforts to relieve suffering while respecting the patient’s enduring dignity.