BMR, MTH and CJG and THE CO-ORDINATING PRACTITIONER FOR MTH

This matter involved an urgent review application by Ms BMR and Ms CJG against a decision of the co-ordinating practitioner for MTH (the respondent). The decision was that Mr MTH, who had returned to Western Australia in February 2024, did not meet the eligibility criteria for access to voluntary assisted dying, in particular the requirement that he be ordinarily resident in Western Australia for a period of at least 12 months at the time of making his first request. The applicants were Mr MTH's niece and his sister, who had a special interest in his medical care and treatment. The applicant's primary submission was that the statutory requirement that a person be ordinarily resident in Western Australia for a period of 12 months at the time of making the first request was ambiguous, and that the respondent had erred in concluding that Mr MTH did not meet this criterion.

The central legal issue was the interpretation of the statutory criterion in section 16(1)(b)(ii) of the Act, which requires a person to be ordinarily resident in Western Australia for a period of at least 12 months at the time of making the first request for access to voluntary assisted dying. The applicants argued that this requirement was ambiguous and that it was open to the Tribunal to adopt a more liberal interpretation of the phrase 'ordinarily resident'. The respondent, on the other hand, submitted that the term 'ordinarily resident' was clear and unambiguous and that Mr MTH did not meet this criterion because he had not been ordinarily resident in Western Australia for a continuous period of 12 months. The Tribunal found that the phrase 'ordinarily resident' was not ambiguous and that the respondent had correctly concluded that Mr MTH did not meet this criterion. The Tribunal found that Mr MTH had not been ordinarily resident in Western Australia for a continuous period of 12 months at the time of making his first request for access to voluntary assisted dying. The Tribunal was satisfied that Mr MTH had only returned to Western Australia on 14 February 2024 and that he had not been ordinarily resident in Western Australia for a period of at least 12 months at that time. Accordingly, the Tribunal dismissed the application and upheld the respondent's decision.