Professor Ben White:

I will pick up on a point made by a number of the witnesses. There are a number of end-of-life decisions, including hastening death through palliative sedation or palliative care and withdrawing or withhold life-sustaining treatment that results in a person's death. These can be done by a single doctor. In some instances, if it is futile treatment, they require consent of the patient. By contrast, voluntary assisted dying has more scrutiny than any type of end-of-life decision. There must be two doctors involved who have to assess eligibility. In Australia they have to complete forms, fill them out during the process and send them to an oversight board.

It is reviewed again at the end. When we talk about safety, I think this context of voluntary assisted dying in Australia has been the safest and most scrutinised type of end-of-life decision-making and is significant for that point about safety.