Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 11. The effect of the law was nullified in 1997 by the federal Parliament of Australia which passed the "Euthanasia Laws Act 1997". The Act continues on the Territory's statute books. Dr Philip Nitschke founded Exit International in response to the overturning of the Act. While voluntary euthanasia had previously been condoned officially in the Netherlands and the US state of Oregon, the act was the first time that a legislative assembly passed a law explicitly legalising euthanasia. The Act allowed a terminally ill patient to end their life with medical assistance, either by the direct involvement of a physician
Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 or by procurement of drugs. The Act set out a somewhat lengthy application process, designed to ensure that a patient was both mentally competent to make the decision and in fact terminally ill. Under the Act: Those who assist in the ending of a person's life under the Act were immune from prosecution or other legal consequences if acting in good faith. (Sections 16 and 20). The passage of the Bill—one of the first of its kind in the world—provoked a furor in Australia, and indeed in much of the rest of the world. The Act received both widespread support