The mind is an unexplored country.

Or would be, if they were still extant.

News that nobody welcomes on this side of The Great South Land: Western Australia is now second only to Canada in the VAD stakes.

That’s right – an entire nation is all that’s keeping this state of a few million in second place when in comes to Voluntary Assisted Dying.

The state Labor government came to power in 2017 with loud promises to reform the health system which Colin Barnett’s Liberals had let deteriorate. Even without Tha Dreaded C, those promises have never been matched by deeds. Luckily for the government though we’ve had a string of ministers in the health portfolio over the last few years. They can all dodge accountability by blaming each other.

And there seems to be some make-work activity among the people acting as the VAD managing authority.

Despite the data showing surging assisted death numbers and issues with the operation of the law in Western Australia, the board overseeing the operation of the law, whose membership includes several people who have previously advocated for the introduction of assisted death laws, has called for the further removal and expansion of the law in Western Australia.

In the 2025–26 annual report, Western Australia’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Board recommended reviewing the existing requirement that patients must be expected to die within six months, or 12 months for neurodegenerative conditions, including consideration of extending or removing these time-to-death limits.

Excuse me if my intention to die in my own good time offends you.

(Image via Raphael AI)