Premier Daniel Andrews likes to boast that Victoria is leading the nation on many fronts, but on Wednesday he managed to succeed where other states have failed: he legalised assisted dying.
The country's only voluntary assisted-dying scheme will be up and running in Victoria by mid-2019, open to terminally ill adults who have lived in the state for at least 12 months.
Patients with less than six months to live who are in pain and want to choose how they end their life can apply for a doctor-assisted death using the legal framework.
The legislation didn't come easily. It took more than 100 hours of parliamentary debate. At times tensions boiled over, colleagues pitted against each other, a cry of "Nazis" at one point cut through the upper house chamber like an axe.
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