Doctors could discuss assisted dying by phone and video
A federal crime law about suicide websites stops doctors talking about voluntary assisted dying by phone, email or video. Voluntary assisted dying lets a dying person choose to end their life with medical help. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, of the Greens party, wants an exception. Then dying patients in country areas would not have to travel.
Official name: Criminal Code Amendment (Equal Access to Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill 2026
- Every state and territory has a voluntary assisted dying law. But a federal crime law blocks doctors from doing it by phone or video.
- The federal law bans using phones or the internet to urge or advise someone to take their own life.
- A 2023 court case found that ban covers voluntary assisted dying.
- This bill would say the ban does not apply to anything done honestly under a state or territory dying law.
- It would also protect doctors who used phone or video for this in the past.
Who it affects
- Dying people in country and remote areas: You could talk to a doctor about assisted dying by phone or video without travelling.
- Doctors and nurses who help with assisted dying: You could use phone and video care without risking a federal criminal charge.
- Doctors who already used phone or video for this: The change would be backdated, so past calls would not count as a crime.
- State and territory governments: Your own assisted dying rules would work as you planned them.
A crime law blocks telehealth
Voluntary assisted dying lets a person who is dying and suffering choose to end their life with medical help. State and territory laws set it up. Each has strict safeguards.
A federal law called the Criminal Code makes something a crime. It is using a carriage service to urge or advise someone to take their own life. A carriage service is any phone, internet, email or video link. That rule was meant to stop online bullying and websites that push suicide.
The Criminal Code does not say what suicide means. In 2023 the Federal Court, a national court, decided a case called Carr v Attorney General. It found that ending a life under Victoria's assisted dying law could count as suicide under this federal rule.
So doctors who talk about assisted dying by phone or video could face criminal charges. That means most of these talks have to happen face to face. This is true even though state laws allow phone and video care.
What the bill changes
The bill adds a new section 474.29C to the Criminal Code. It says the federal suicide crimes do not apply to anything done legally and honestly under a state or territory assisted dying law.
The examples include using a phone or internet service. They also include using, holding, giving or getting material. That covers phone calls, emails, video calls and sending forms or facts.
Senator Hanson-Young says doctors would use their own judgment about when phone or video care is right. It would be allowed but never forced.
The bill does not change any state safeguards. Each state still checks that a person chooses freely, can make the decision, and is not pushed into it. It also does not change how the medicine is given.
Say you live on a farm six hours from the nearest city and you have cancer that will kill you. Today you may have to make several long trips to see doctors in person while very sick. Under this bill, some of those talks could happen by video call from home.
Past telehealth use protected
Telehealth means care by phone, video or email. The change would cover things done before the law starts, as well as after. So it would be backdated. Any doctor who already used phone or video for assisted dying under state law would be safe from a federal charge.
Waiting in the Senate
If passed, the law would start the day after it was signed into law.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young brought the bill to the Senate on 13 August 2026. She gave her opening speech that day. It is a private bill, which means it did not come from the government. It has not been debated yet.
To become law, it would need to pass the Senate, then the House of Representatives, Parliament's main house. Then the Governor-General, who stands in for the King, would have to sign it.
Its journey through Parliament
| 13 Aug 2026 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 13 Aug 2026 | Senate: Second reading moved |