The ACT will not make voluntary assisted dying available to teenagers in its upcoming bill as the work required would be too complex for what would be an "extremely low uptake".
A rough estimate has suggested only one person under 18 would be likely to use voluntary assisted dying in Canberra every 50 years, Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne said.
Work on the territory's assisted dying scheme has reached "the pointy end" and a bill is expected to be introduced before the end of the year.
While the bill has not been finalised, Ms Cheyne is expected to provide an update on the territory's plans at a conference on Thursday.
Speaking to The Canberra Times ahead of her speech, Ms Cheyne said the government had decided it would not open the scheme to people under 18, which had previously been a possibility.
However, the government will review this after the scheme has been in operation for three to five years.
Ms Cheyne said while there had been support for some teenagers being able to access voluntary assisted dying the matter proved to be too complex and could result in the scheme being delayed.
"As we've worked through this, I think it's emerged that there are some serious complexities here. The concept of mature minor and Gillick competency is something that's well known and understood and applied in a range of health settings but not all and applying it in a health setting such as voluntary assisted dying is something that is untested," she said.
"It's emerged there are a range of considerations that need a lot of time to work through, including whether there do need to be additional safeguards.
"The practical realities of implementation necessarily would mean it would take a significant time to implement and would delay our entire scheme."
The number of under-18s who were likely to access the scheme was also expected to be incredibly low.
'Uncertain and imprecise'
But the territory's scheme is expected to go further than models implemented in the Australian states, with Ms Cheyne saying it was likely the legislation would not require an expected time frame for a death.
All Australian states require a person's death to be expected in a certain time frame ranging from six to 12 months.
Ms Cheyne said evidence showed imposing a time frame could be arbitrary and was "inherently uncertain and imprecise".
She said the detailed work on how this could be determined was still being undertaken but that a person would have to be advanced in their illness before being able to access voluntary assisted dying.
"We think that this is striking the right balance because someone will still need to have an illness that is advanced, progressive and terminal so they still need to be towards the end of their life but removing that time frame we think is important," Ms Cheyne said.
Care facilities with an objection to voluntary assisted dying, such as those run by religious organisations, would also not be able to hinder access to someone wanting to explore voluntary assisted dying.
The facilities would be able to determine their level of involvement with voluntary assisted dying but would have to comply with minimum standards such as allowing a health professional to access the facility or organise the transfer of a patient.
Ms Cheyne said the government was also considering making it unlawful for a care facility to refuse services to someone who is seeking or may seek to access voluntary assisted dying.
Nurse practitioners are also likely to be included as one of the two health professionals who could assess whether someone is eligible for voluntary assisted dying.
Under voluntary assisted dying models across Australia, two health professionals have to independently assess whether someone is eligible for voluntary assisted dying.
"We think there is strong justification for this," Ms Cheyne said.
"Nurse practitioners in the ACT community have a lot of confidence from our community, it's a role that's really well understood particularly given their leadership in many areas across ACT Health, they are highly qualified, they have postgraduate degrees, they need to have significant relevant experience to participate but in a small jurisdiction like the ACT we think that this makes a lot of sense."
Legislation is expected to be introduced to the territory's Legislative Assembly before the end of the year. There are two sitting weeks in October and one sitting week at the end of November. Ms Cheyne stressed that the bill was still being finalised.
"These are not the final settled positions of the ACT government, ministers or cabinet," she said.
The ACT's parliament was banned from legislating on voluntary assisted dying for 25 years but this was overturned last year after the Federal Parliament reversed its ban on the territories' ability to legislate a scheme last year.
Labor and Liberals members will be given a conscience vote on voluntary assisted dying. Greens members are expected to vote in favour of voluntary assisted dying as it's part of the party's policy platform.
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