Taking one's own life or attempting to do so has long been decriminalised in Australia. Aiding, counselling, or inciting another person to kill him or herself, however, remains a criminal offence. Yet, all six Australian States have now introduced laws allowing assistance in dying under certain circumstances. This article traces the recent history of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws in Australia. It examines the introduction of the world's first assisted dying legislation in the Northern Territory in 1995 followed by the Federal Government's 1997 deprivation of the Territories' power to legislate on assisted dying invalidating said law. It further considers the fifty-seven failed Bills attempting to achieve law reform in this context in Australian jurisdictions between 1993 and 2017 with a view to identifying what factors may have contributed to the continuing lack of success. This article then outlines the rapid introduction of VAD laws in all six Australian States decriminalising VAD over the span of only 5 years. It ponders what may have changed to bring about this law reform. This article closes by contemplating potential future law reform in the Australian Territories, which have been reinstated with jurisdiction to legislate on VAD in December 2022.

中文翻译：

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回顾过去，展望未来——澳大利亚VAD法律的历史以及澳大利亚领土未来的法律改革。

在澳大利亚，自杀或试图自杀早已被合法化。然而，帮助、怂恿或煽动他人自杀仍然是刑事犯罪。然而，澳大利亚所有六个州现已出台法律，允许在某些情况下提供死亡援助。本文追溯了澳大利亚自愿辅助死亡 (VAD) 法律的近期历史。它审查了 1995 年在北领地引入世界上第一个安乐死立法，随后联邦政府于 1997 年剥夺了北领地就安乐死立法的权力，从而使该法律无效。它还进一步考虑了 1993 年至 2017 年间澳大利亚司法管辖区试图实现这方面法律改革的 57 项失败法案，以期找出可能导致持续缺乏成功的因素。然后，本文概述了澳大利亚所有六个州在短短 5 年内迅速推出 VAD 法律，将 VAD 合法化。它思考可能会发生哪些变化来实现这项法律改革。本文最后思考了澳大利亚领地未来可能进行的法律改革，这些领地已于 2022 年 12 月恢复了 VAD 立法管辖权。