The Western Australian Parliament has amended legislation that will allow terminally ill people to make a decision to end their lives.

Under the initiative, people with incurable diseases whose intolerable suffering can cause their death within 6 months will have the right to benefit from voluntary euthanasia.

For people with neurodegenerative diseases, this period is 12 months.

The patient must make two applications - one verbally and one written. The application must be signed by two independent doctors.

Hospitals will choose the medicine from an approved list of medicines provided.

The law is expected to enter into force in mid-2021.

According to US Prime Minister Mark McGowan, this is a historic and dark day for Western Australia.

"It's about people dying and suffering from pain to have the choice of not having to spend their last weeks and months in pain," he said.

A law on the legalization of euthanasia was adopted earlier in the Australian state of Victoria, and officially came into force in June.

The law was first put into practice in August by an elderly woman suffering from a cancer. 

Earlier, the authorities in New Zealand have voted to legitimize euthanasia, paving the way for the issue to be brought to a referendum by next year, BGNES reported.

The law allowing terminally ill people to claim medically assisted death was passed by 69 to 51 votes in its last reading ending years of heated parliamentary debate on the topic.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has publicly said she supports the euthanasia reform.

A recent poll suggested 72% of New Zealanders supported some form of assisted dying, BBC reported. 

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