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 Any resident of Victoria state over 18, with a terminal illness and
with less than six months to live can request a lethal dose of
medication under the new legislation.
Assisted dying will remain illegal in Australia's other five states.
In a vote in Victoria's upper house, 22 of 40 senators supported the
legislation.
The legislation required amendments to pass the upper house,
including halving the time frame for eligible patients to access the
scheme, reduced from 12 months to live to six months to live.
The amendments must be approved by the lower house before becoming
law. The legislation is not expected to be opposed.
There will be exemptions for sufferers of conditions such as motor
neurone disease and multiple sclerosis, who can request a lethal
dose of medication even if they have been given up to a year to
live.
Many countries have legalized euthanasia, including Canada, the
Netherlands, Switzerland, and some states in the United States.
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But Australia's federal government has opposed legalizing euthanasia
even though the remote Northern Territory, which does not hold
Australian statehood, became the first jurisdiction in the world to
do so in 1995.
The federal government enacted its own legislation to override the
Northern Territory law in 1997 under rules allowed by the
constitution. State law, however, can not be overridden.
(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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