NT VAD law will be too late for some
‘Stevo’ from Darwin knows that a voluntary assisted dying law in the Northern Territory will come too late for him. But he won't stop campaigning.
Suffering from terminal cancer, he is receiving good palliative care in a hospice but would have applied for VAD months ago if it had been available.
The NT is the only place in Australia without VAD legislation, although the government has promised a draft law in 2026.
Stevo, 62, makes dark jokes about taking matters into his own hands by “finding a hungry croc’’, but acknowledges that only creates “mess” for others. He is prepared to go to another state to have VAD but knows he would not meet residency requirements.
In desperation, Stevo recently resolved to stop eating and drinking. However, he found that difficult too.
“It's hard to knock back a cup of tea when a nurse offers it. And mates come in offering beverages,’’ he says.
“At least I’ve got a few moments of joy in my life.”
Stevo is afraid of a painful ending, as he is bleeding out of a cancerous tumour. “Physically, I’m pretty fit apart from this monster growing in my body,’’ he says.
“The pain is creeping up slowly. I dread the dressing change more and more.
“I can still walk, talk and shower myself, but it’s scary thinking some day soon I won’t be able to. I’ll be bedridden, and that’s not what I want.”
Stevo has called into ABC Radio in Darwin regularly, to speak about his plight on behalf of other terminally ill Territorians who want end-of-life choice.
“I’d just like the choice…I don’t want to be a burden, I don’t want to leave a mess, I don’t want to make a fuss. I just want a clean end,’’ he told presenter Liz Trevaskis.
“I still want to help people. That’s why I’ve come out of the woodwork now. To try and get people to understand that they have rights. And while they still have their marbles it’s important to have the conversations about their wishes at the end.”
Stevo has lived in the Top End for 50 years, and worked as a horticulturalist, fishing tour guide, skipper on the Coral Sea, and truck driver.
He’s always had a passion for fishing and camping and worked several years on an artificial reef project.
Like many Territorians of his age, he remembers when the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was introduced in 1995. Its legacy was cut short when federal interference overturned it, stripping Territories of their power to legislate on euthanasia. That power was only restored in 2022 but it has taken until 2025 for the NT government to announce it will begin drafting legislation.
A draft VAD bill will be introduced in early 2026. If the bill passes, there will be an 18-month implementation period. It’s time that Stevo doesn’t have.
All he can do is take comfort from visits from friends, who bring him beers – "the bastards, making me live longer" – and the dedicated hospice staff.
“The care I’m getting is the best I can hope for.
“I’ve had the chance to get my affairs in order. I’ve spent my super down to nothing. I’m spending my last money on a TV for my room so I can donate that for the next person,’’ he says.
His message for Northern Territory politicians is simple: “Hurry up and do it.”
“VAD is about easing people’s suffering and giving them a choice beyond suicide or being bedridden. It’s the same as a warrior on the battlefield asking a mate to help him out.”
He wrote a submission to the NT government inquiry into VAD, for the sake of others who were suffering.
“Freedom, justice and mercy are mere human constructs, yet define law and empathy and humanity,’’ he wrote.
“The notion of mercy is to ease suffering.”
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