Children should be able to access voluntary assisted dying, the government's human rights watchdog says.
The ACT Human Rights Commission said children and young people with decision-making capacity should be able to voluntarily end their life in the same circumstances as adults.
But the ACT government abandoned a proposal to extend voluntary assisted dying to under-18s who were able to consent to the procedure.
The commission told an inquiry into the territory's proposed assisted dying laws human rights principles required due consideration for the rights of children and young people and it believed this extended to voluntary assisted dying.
The ACT did not pursue granting under-18s access to voluntary assisted dying after an analysis suggested it would be too complex for what would be an extremely low uptake. However, this will be reconsidered when the legislation is reviewed.
The commission's submission is one of 79 to be published as part of an inquiry into the ACT's proposed bill.
The ACT Law Society said it was important the ACT's scheme was consistent with other states, saying this was in the interests of "national harmonisation" and avoided "jurisdiction shopping".
The society's submission said the removal of a time frame to death was considered an important safeguard in other jurisdictions and should not be dismissed without careful consideration.
The society also said when assessing a person's decision-making capacity it was important impediments to a person's communication were considered. The submission also said other laws in the ACT provided clearer examples of when a person's decision-making capacity was impaired.
The ACT's bill says care facilities with a conscientious objection to voluntary assisted dying are not allowed to hinder access to voluntary assisted dying. A facility could face a fine of up to $81,000 and an individual could be fined $16,000.
The ACT Law Society said it was important to ensure facility operators did not punish workers who had a conscientious objection to voluntary assisted dying and the law should be strengthened to include references to workplace protection laws.
"There is a risk that facility operators might take adverse action towards a person who holds a conscientious objection," the society's submission said.
"The society suggests that the bill could include a provision which draws attention to these existing employment safeguards and serves as a reminder to facility operators about their obligations in this regard."
The ACT's bill does not allow access to voluntary assisted dying if a person has indicated a preference for this in an advanced care directive. The territory has planned to review this three years after the scheme has been in effect but some submissions were concerned this was not included in the current bill.
The Human Rights Commission said it did not think a voluntary advance directive should be ruled out.
"The commission is of the view that a model should not be ruled out that enables a person to access VAD even in circumstances where there has been loss of capacity or an inability to communicate, but where there has been a prior voluntary directive established when the individual had capacity indicating that an individual wished to access VAD," the commission's submission said.
The Australia Institute said the bill could provide better clarity as to how people with dementia could access voluntary assisted dying.
"It is unclear how people with dementia, who may indeed have 'impaired decision-making capacity' or 'move between having and not having decision-making capacity', are covered by the bill," the institute's submission said.
"It would benefit the increasing number of people with dementia if the bill included guidance on how these clauses should be interpreted in cases where people with dementia want to access VAD."
Public hearings are likely to be held as part of the inquiry in the new year with the committee required to hand down its report by the end of February.
Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne is hopeful the bill will pass in the first half of 2024, meaning Canberrans would be able to access voluntary assisted dying by the end of 2025.
