The death of his father convinced Victorian premier Daniel Andrews to change his mind on voluntary euthanasia and he'll vote for the bill when Victoria bids to legalise assisted dying in 2017.
Mr Andrews says all MPs will have a conscience vote when the rights of terminally ill Victorians who want help to end their own lives to avoid dying in pain are debated.
He says he'll vote for the new laws after seeing his father Bob die in April following a long battle with cancer.
"That gives you reason to re-assess whether you have got this right and, for my part, my opposition to these laws was wrong," Mr Andrews told reporters on Thursday.
"My position has changed. Subject to the appropriate safeguards, subject to a good bill being put forward ... I intend to vote for that bill."
A 2008 attempt to bring in the laws failed in part because other MPs were worried about protection for vulnerable people.
"People wanted to vote for it, but there weren't enough safeguards," Green MP Colleen Hartland told reporters on Thursday.
This time a panel of clinical, legal, consumer and health experts will advise the government on drafting the legislation.
The proposed Victorian model is based on one used in Oregon in the US, which a cross-party parliamentary committee found was the best option.
"That model is for ... adults, not children, for people that are very close to the end of their life, that have an irreparable condition that is causing them enormous suffering and pain that cannot be relieved by any other measure," Health Minister Jill Hennessy said.
She said two doctors would assess the patient's competence and to ensure they're using their free will.
The children of Ray Godbold, a palliative care nurse who died in agony due to oesophageal cancer, urged MPs to speak to families of dead and dying people to understand the need for assisted dying.
"He was a man who was almost 60, still healthy, still living a full life, who had to lie down in the bed and just submit to death," son Rory Godbold said.
The Australian Medical Association opposes the move and wants an "opt-out" option for doctors if legislation is passed so practitioners who morally object aren't forced to help patients die.
But Victorian branch president Lorraine Baker this week acknowledged community attitudes on assisted dying had changed.
She said the AMA wanted to be involved in the development of any bill.
Right to Life Australia president Margaret Tighe said the proposal is state-sanctioned suicide.
"It has been proven that so called safeguards are meaningless and eventually give way to legalised patient killing for a whole host of reasons," Ms Tighe said.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the focus on assisted dying was a distraction from other issues in Victoria, like law and order.
He said he would vote against the bill, but his MPs would be given a conscience vote and he wouldn't lobby them.
The bill will likely go to a vote in the second half of 2017 but would not take effect until 2019.
